To Conquer Death
by Stormwriter
Summary: Even scarier than a new DADA teacher and another year of potions with Snape, the Second War has begun. It is up to Harry to stop Voldemort from obtaining an ancient magic that will fulfill the prophecy and get him what he desires most...an immortal life.
1. Dreams and Realities

To Conquer Death

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter!!**

**Some quotes are taken from OOTP!**

Chapter 1: Dreams and Realities

Harry Potter found himself walking through the dark corridor to the Department of Mysteries, his footsteps echoing throughout the hall. He pushed open the black door but instead of taking him to the Hall of Prophecies, he found himself standing in a dimly lit room he instantly recognized as the Death Chamber. In the very center of the room stood a stone archway with the black, tattered veil that fluttered lightly without the help of wind. Harry continued to stare at the veil, fighting back the desire to walk through it. A sudden crash brought Harry out of his reverie and he realized that he wasn't the only one in the chamber.

A tall man with long, black hair had just sent a pale jet of light at a woman who deflected the jinx. Harry's heart leapt...Sirius! He saw the woman, Bellatrix, send a red jet of light at Sirius, who ducked the curse easily.

"_This time is going to be different!" Harry thought excitedly, "She missed! Sirius didn't fall through!"_

Harry's joy quickly evaporated, however, when he heard Sirius's bark like laugh and the echoing words that soon followed.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" Sirius taunted.

Bellatrix, grinning maliciously, hit him with another jet of red light and he began to stagger towards the veil.

"NOOOO!!!' Harry shouted, but Bellatrix wasn't paying any attention to him.

"SIRIUS!" Harry shouted again and began to run to the archway.

Harry broke into a run as he struggled to reach his godfather before it was too late...but it already was.

He watched his godfather inevitably fall into the veil for a second time.

Bellatrix let out a triumphant laugh. Harry reached into the pocket of his robe and grabbed his wand tightly. He pulled it out quickly and fired his own curse at her.

"Curcio!" he cried; he wanted to make her suffer, make her pay.

He watched as the curse hurled straight towards her, however, before the curse could hit her, she faded from view. A new wave of sorrow washed over Harry, but then another thought occurred to him.

"_It's not too late!' he thought desperately, "He's only just gone through!"_

There was no Lupin to hold him back this time, to stop him from going through the veil and saving Sirius. Harry reached the base of the archway and hesitated for a few moments.

"_Where does this lead to?" He wondered nervously. _

"_He can't come back, Harry!" a voice echoed through his head, "he can't come back because he's dead!"_

"He's not dead!" Harry argued back.

With this new thought in mind Harry took a few more steps closer to the veil. The black curtain was swaying back and forth, beckoning him closer, as if trying to persuade him to walk through. As he walked closer, the voices continued to fill his head. The closer he got the stronger the voices became.

"_No! Not Harry! Take me! Kill me instead!" _

"_Bow to death, Harry...It might be painless, I would not know, I have never died..."_

"_Well, it's more the fact that he exists."_

All the voices and screams of painful memories continued to fill his head. How was he supposed to concentrate with all the voices in his head? Harry tried to clear his mind and thought only of Sirius. He was here to save him. He had to!

"..._it made him realize that the one person whom you would go to any lengths to rescue was Sirius Black."_

This new thought filled Harry with new determination. There was no one to stop him, no one to hold him back. He was going to save his godfather even if it cost him his life. He extended his hand to touch the veil and his whole body shivered and he suddenly felt cold. One more step would take him inside...would he even be able to come out again?

Harry took a few steps back and prepared himself to run straight into the curtain, which now started blowing as if it were caught in a draft. He was going through, nobody could stop him this time!

"_I'm coming, Sirius!" Harry told him silently. _

He broke into another run and went straight at the veil. He was going to see Sirius again! One more second...SLAM!

Harry Potter jolted out of his bed and fell onto the floor. He looked around the messy room and realized that he wasn't anywhere near the Department of Mysteries or the archway. He was still in his small bedroom at Number Four, Privet Drive, and Sirius was still dead.

Outside his bedroom he could hear the rain pouring on the roof. The drought that had affected the people of Privet Drive last year had ended and instead it seemed to do nothing but rain this summer. The rain had been a topic of complaint from his Uncle Vernon, who had complained all last summer about the lack of it. Harry stepped to his window and looked outside, smiling a bit grimly as a flash of lightening lit up the room for few fleeting seconds. If anything, the weather outside reflected Harry's mood perfectly.

It had taken Harry most of the summer to accept that Sirius was gone and was never coming back, even if a small part of him still thought it was possible. The dreams didn't help him at all. Whether he liked it or not, however, the dreams he kept having were occurring more and more often as the summer progressed.

A few months ago, Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, died when fell into a veil in the Department of Mysteries fighting Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry had come to Privet Drive even gloomier than usual, even the Dursleys noticed. For whatever reason though, they didn't ask Harry what was wrong, and he hadn't bothered to tell them. For the past two years now, his aunt and uncle had been living in fear of the idea that their nephew had a convicted criminal for a godfather. He saw no reason to tell them he was dead.

This summer, though, his relatives did seem to be ignoring him a lot more than they usually did. That may have had something to do with the fact that a handful of the Order members approached them at the train station at the end of the fifth year and told them what would happen if they gave Harry a hard time during the summer. The Dursleys seemed to take the threat seriously. Every morning, he saw his aunt checking out the kitchen window at least three times a day to make sure no wizards, especially ones with pink hair, marched up their lawn.

They really didn't need to worry though because Harry had almost no contact with anyone from the wizarding world this summer. Ron and Hermione had wrote him a few times to see how he was, but that was about it. It seemed that a few weeks after the fifth year ended, Hermione had gone to stay at Grimmauld Place, the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, again along with the Weasleys. Harry didn't bother asking when he was going to leave Privet Drive because he wasn't all that sure he wanted to go back to Grimmauld Place knowing that Sirius wasn't there.

The only thing that had helped ease Harry's pain was the knowledge that the whole of the wizarding world now believed that Sirius was innocent. Hermione sent him a Daily Prophet article, as he still refused to buy the paper, shortly after he came back to the Dursleys'. The article went on about how Sirius had been framed and endured twelve years in Azkaban though he was innocent. Harry suspected that Dumbledore had something to do with the article making headlines since the Ministry was now perfectly willing to listen to him now. Though, after being proven wrong about Voldemort being dead, they would have to be stupid not to.

As Harry picked himself off the floor he listened for any sound of movement that might indicate the Dursleys were awake. They obviously weren't because he could hear Dudley's snores from across the hall. Harry looked around the room and his eyes rested on the calendar he kept that marked down the days till September first. As he followed the marks across the page, he realized that he would be marking of the second to last day in July. Tomorrow was his birthday! How could he not have realized it? Though with all that had been going on it really wasn't all that surprising. He had never had much reason to look forwards to his birthdays, especially now that he knew about the prophecy.

After returning from the Ministry of Magic building, Dumbledore had explained to Harry all about the prophecy concerning a wizard who would be born at the end of July who would either kill or be killed by Voldemort. This meant him. Harry hadn't told anyone about the prophecy, not even his two best friends, and he was going to keep it that way for now.

Harry glanced at his clock and he realized that it was only three in the morning. Not really feeling like going back to sleep, he picked up his book _Quidditch through the Ages_ and began to read. Since his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was his O.W.L (Ordinary Wizarding Level) year, his teachers didn't assign homework for the summer holidays. Come to think of it, he hadn't even gotten his O.W.L results yet. He really wasn't to worried about that though because Ron and Hermione had both assured him that they hadn't received theirs either. He couldn't help but smile at the image of Hermione in a panic because she didn't know how she did. Harry was pretty sure that she got perfect scores because she was the top of their class at just about everything.

As Harry started to read though, he began to drift off again.

When he woke up again, the rain had stopped, but the house was still quiet, with the exception of snores. Harry glanced at his clock and realized that he had fallen asleep again. The clock now read seven, but Harry resisted the urge to go back to sleep.

Feeling that it might be a good idea to get out of the house for a while, now that it had finally stopped raining for a bit, Harry got dressed in his baggy clothes and was about to reach for the door handle when a tap on the window stopped him. He looked to see a handsome, official looking, barn owl perched on the window outside. Harry took the letter from the owl and watched as it flew away. He didn't recognize the owl but he certainly recognized the seal on the letter, after getting so many warnings about the use of underage magic it was hard not to. It was from the Ministry of Magic, his O.W.L results had finally come! He broke the seal and two pieces of parchment fell out. He picked up the letter first and began to read:

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that the results

of your Ordinary Wizarding Level have arrived. As

you know, these results determine what N.E.W.T

classes you will be taking at Hogwarts School of

Witchcraft and Wizardry. Have a nice day.

Griselda Marchbanks

Wizarding Examinations Authority

Ministry of Magic

Harry tossed aside the letter and picked up the second piece of parchment which contained his grades. These grades would determine whether or not he peruse his career as an auror. He took a few deep breaths and then looked down at the paper; it read:

Ordinary Wizarding Results For:

Harry James Potter

Subject:Grade:

Charms:O

Transfiguration:E

Herbology:E

Defense Against the Dark Arts:O

Potions:O

Care of Magical Creatures:O

Astronomy:P

Divination:P

History of Magic:D

Harry stared blankly at the grades on the paper. _He got an O in potions! _This could mean that he could continue trying for his career as an Auror, but was sitting through two more years with Snape really worth it? He could picture the disbelieving look that would almost certainly be on the potions master's face if he were to walk into N.E.W.Ts potions at the start of the term. Well, he would worry about what classes to take later.

Harry put the two pieces of parchment back into the envelope and tossed it on the desk and quietly slipped out the front door. He really doubted whether the Dursleys would notice he was gone, but it was probably a good idea not to wake them. It still smelled like rain the second he stepped outside. He walked through the familiar streets of Little Whinging, avoiding the place where he had first seen Sirius in his animal form. The streets were mostly deserted, but he watched with mild amusement as some of the early rising neighbors scrambled to get out of his way. His aunt and uncle explained to the entire neighborhood that Harry attended St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys, so naturally they were afraid of him.

Harry had been walking along the streets when he began to feel the rain starting all over again. He thought he should head back anyways, as it was about time for breakfast. Along the way he passed Mrs. Figg's house and saw Mr. Tibbles crawl out from a bush, desperately trying to make it inside before it really started to pour. Harry had found out last year that Mrs. Figg was actually a squib and a member of the Order. Harry hadn't talked to her all summer and did briefly wonder sometimes if she still had her cats keep an eye on him. He hadn't seen any members of the Order anywhere near Privet Drive but often listened to see if they were still following him. He really hoped not because he had proven time and time again that he could take care of himself but people still insisted on treating him like a child! The only person that had ever truly treated him like an adult was Sirius, but he was now gone. Like it or not though, the witches and wizards he knew would have to start treating him like an adult eventually, because if the prophecy was true, he was their only hope for defeating Voldemort, and he didn't want to think of what would happen if he failed.

A/N: Well this was my first attempt at a Harry Potter fic! How was it? There may be some grammar mistakes (I probably need to get a beta-reader for that.) Please review! Well the next chapter should be up in a few more days (the more reviews the sooner I tend to update!)


	2. Birthday Surprises

To Conquer Death

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!

Chapter 2: Birthday Surprises

The Dursleys didn't pay any attention to Harry as he sat down at the table; they were all focused on the new, larger television screen they had bought for Dudley as a reward for successfully staying on the diet for two years. When the commercials came on, he had to listen as Uncle Vernon started to complain about neighbors, mainly about Number Three's grass being to long. When the program came back on, thankfully, he stopped talking and all of them sitting at the table, with the exception of Dudley who really didn't care much for the news, turned their attention back to the television. The Dursleys seemed to pay a bit more attention than usual to the news every day since Harry returned from school. Harry suspected that they might be trying to see if there were any stories about "his lot" on the news but he couldn't be sure, the Dursleys had never exactly shown much interest in the wizarding world.

The only story that made top news was that someone stole a priceless artifact from the Roman section of a London museum. The news broadcaster didn't even say what the artifact was but gave a number to call if anyone had any information.

"Why didn't they just rob the jewelry store across the street!" Uncle Vernon stated incredulously, "Those would have been worth more than a worthless, _priceless_ piece of junk they dug up in some dusty museum!"

After watching that story on the news, Harry spent the rest of breakfast listening to his uncle go on about good-for-nothing criminals while his aunt glanced at him as if he were the sort of person his uncle was talking about. By this time, Harry had a very strong desire to put a silencing charm on his uncle but reminded himself that he was still an underage wizard. Next year, however, he would be able to use magic. He ate much faster after that so he could get out of their presence before Dudley could start bragging about his new boxing record.

For the rest of the day Harry spent his time staring at the ceiling. When the sun actually started to set he decided he may as well try to sleep and hoped he wouldn't have any of the reoccurring dreams he usually had. Unfortunately, he found himself walking in the Death Chamber again and he was just about to run into the veil again when he heard a slam on his window.

Harry woke up with a start and looked around for the source of the noise. He didn't need to look far, however, because when he looked outside, he saw the unconscious form of the Ron's owl, Pig. Harry helped him over to Hedwig's cage and removed the parcel from his leg. He was about to open it when three more owls zoomed in; two of them were also carrying parcels. He went to the owl with the letter first, as it was unmistakably a Hogwarts owl. When it left, he turned his attention to the other two owls, one happened to be purple of all colors! He removed both of their parcels and turned his attention to the first parcel.

He opened the letter first and saw that it was from both Ron and Hermione.

_Harry,_

_Happy Birthday Harry! Since we're both staying at you-know-where, _

_Dumbledore thought it would be better if we both sent you our present together. _

_I expect you won't be staying much longer at your relatives, maybe a week at the_

_most. We have so much to tell you, I can't wait to see you._

**Like Hermione said, I don't reckon it'll be too much longer till you **

**join us. Mum's been real worried about you. Anyway, we figured **

**you've been out of practice, as you haven't played Quidditch in a while, so we got something to distract you while your still at the Dursleys. **

**There's no way they can still keep you from playing Quidditch this **

**year and if they do than they're just a bunch of...**

(The word was crossed out there. Harry suspected Hermione did that.)

**See you soon!**

Ron and Hermione

Harry opened the parcel and immediately a golden snitch flew out. He watched its progress around the room and wondered whether or not he was going to play Quidditch this year. Last year, Umbridge had given him a lifelong ban for punching Malfoy. He mentally reminded himself to ask Professor McGonagall about that when he saw her again. He let the snitch zoom around the room for a few more minutes before he leapt off the bed and caught it in one swipe. At least he could still catch it!

He reached over and grabbed the next parcel and letter from the other owl.

_Wotcher Harry,_

_I heard you wanted to follow in my footsteps and become_

_an Auror, a very brilliant idea I might add. I thought_

_this gift would come in handy. Take care of yourself and_

_remember CONSTANT VIGILLENCE!_

_Tonks_

Laughing, Harry opened up the parcel and saw that it was a book entitled _Auror Ambitions_. He started to look through the book and saw that it had all sorts of jinxes and hexes and defense spells that Aurors needed to learn. He could tell this book would be useful for him to read.

He at then opened the parcel from the purple owl wondering who would have a purple owl that he knew of. The answer became very clear however when he read the card.

_Dear Harry,_

I hope you've had a good summer so far. Our expedition to Sweden

was very exciting! We almost caught a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, but as you probably know they're really fast, so it got away. I thought you might

need to think of something other than your godfather's death, so I

got you the book I used to read after my mum died.

See you on the Hogwarts train.

_Luna_

Harry opened the gift and took out a bright blue book with gold lettering which was entitled _They Really do Exist!: Magic Myths Proven True_. This book probably explained a lot about the creatures Luna claimed to exist. He almost smiled as he pictured the look on Hermione's face when she saw the book.

He finally got to the Hogwarts letter and he opened it. All it really said was a congratulations for his O.W.L scores and to send an owl informing them as to which classes he would be taking for the year. He rummaged around his desk for a bottle of ink and a quill. When he found them he opened the bottle and started writing.

He didn't hesitate to put Transfiguration, Charms, or Defense Against the Dark Arts on the list. He already knew that he wasn't going to put down History of Magic or Divination, as the classes were completely useless in his opinion. He wanted to continue to take Care of Magical Creatures, not because of any desire to be attacked by some dangerous beast, but because Hagrid was teaching it. After he jotted down Care of Magical Creatures, his quill stayed suspended over the parchment. He knew potions was very important if he wanted to become an Auror, but he didn't want to spent another two years in a potions class if he could help it. Snape would probably just vanish more of his potions and insult him. In the end, he reluctantly wrote potions on his list and looked around for Hedwig.

She was still out hunting, however, so he put the list aside and picked up the book Luna had given him. He didn't know why he suddenly had a desire to read it. Perhaps it was because she was the only person he had even remotely discussed Sirius's death with. He wasn't sure what good the book would do him, but he opened it up anyway, perhaps out of curiosity. He flipped the book to a random page and began to read the text:

_Elementals_

Elementals have the power over the four elements: earth, water, air, and fire. Most witches and wizards tend to deny their existence as few have ever claimed to see one. It is debatable whether Elementals are humans or spirits, but they are born with the power they possess, it is impossible to learn it. Elementals usually wield only one element; it is possible, although rare, that they can wield more, but they have only one element they excel in.

The book continued on for some time, but Harry was already turning the page, skimming briefly at the pages. He also found information about Nargles, which actually turned out to be a twelve-legged creature that lived in mistletoe and attacked any young couple that might have the idea to kiss under it. Who wrote this book!? Just as he closed it, he heard a flutter of wings and saw that Hedwig returned with a frog in her beak.

"Feel like taking a trip to Hogwarts?" he asked.

She hooted once in response, which he took to mean yes, and sealed the letter and attached it to her leg. Harry watched her until she disappeared from view and decided he should probably at least try to get some sleep. He took all of his presents and put them in the loose floorboard under his bed, just in case his aunt were to walk in. He was just about to go back to sleep when his scar made his head explode in pain.

He heard laughter. It rang in his ears like a bell and refused to go away. Someone was very happy, even happier than they had been when the Death Eaters escaped from Azkaban last year. The person, Voldemort, continued to laugh ecstatically until Harry found himself being shaken roughly back to consciousness. The laughter suddenly stopped and Harry then realized he had been the one laughing. He wondered what had happened when he looked up and saw his aunt and uncle staring down at him as if he were insane.

"What the devil did you mean by that, boy!" Uncle Vernon bellowed.

"It wasn't me," Harry said distantly, rubbing his burning scar. He was more disturbed by the fact that Voldemort was happier than he ever had been since coming back.

"What do you mean it wasn't you!" said his uncle incredulously, "let me guess, it was one of those dementoids that did it."

Harry shot a glare at his uncle before saying, "It was Voldemort."

Vernon Dursley continued to rant, but Harry really wasn't paying any more attention to what he was saying; he was trying to think of what he should do next. He wasn't about to sit down and have a conversation with the Dursleys about this. He thought about writing to Dumbledore, but he would probably consider it old news. He wished he still had Sirius to talk to; he would have been able to help him. Harry got off the floor and made his way to the door only to find a cloaked figure blocking his exit. He froze; Dumbledore said that as long as he was in his relatives care, Voldemort couldn't harm him. Did that include Death Eaters as well? Harry was just about to make a dive for his wand but stopped when the figure spoke.

"Harry, are you okay? I heard screaming so I hurried inside to see what the trouble was."

Harry was sure he knew that voice from somewhere, but he wasn't sure where. He did, however, recognize the face when the figure removed her hood. It was Emmeline Vance, a member of the Order of the Phoenix. So he was right after all; Dumbledore was still having him watched.

"Professor Dumbledore is still having me watched then?" Harry said, voicing his thought aloud.

"Of course he is!" she stated, "I'm surprised you even have to ask. You-Know-Who is not very happy his plans were ruined a few months ago and you escaped him again!"

"That's funny," Harry said distractedly, "Voldemort seemed very happy to me."

"What are you talking about?" she said while looking at him suspiciously with a small trace of fear in her eyes.

"I can sort of read Voldemort's mood," he said, while ignoring her strange look, "he seemed very happy about something. Do you know what's going on?"

"I don't know...Death Eaters have been active lately...I've got to report this to Dumbledore. Goodbye, Harry!"

"Wait!" he shouted after her, but it wasn't any good. She vanished quickly out the door before he could follow her

A soft, popping noise soon followed as she disapparated from the hall, leaving Harry to his thoughts, and his aunt and uncle sputtering indignantly. She hadn't answered his question, not really well anyways. What did she mean Death Eaters were active lately? He really wasn't all that surprised that they were now that Voldemort's return was out in public, but the way she said it made it seem that the Death Eater's had a new plan to carry out.

"Boy, how many times do I have to tell you, I will not allow those freaks in my house!"

"I can't stop them from coming here!" Harry shouted, "If you have a problem with it I'm sure you can talk to Moody, the one with the eye!"

The effect those words had on his uncle was priceless. He had turned three shades redder and his eyes began to dart around the room as if there might be more wizards hidden in the dark.

"Tell those freaks you're just fine and not to send anyone else here!" Uncle Vernon said in what he obviously thought was a commanding tone.

With that, his aunt and uncle gave him one final glare and then left the room, leaving Harry with his thoughts. Something was going on Harry could tell, but he didn't know what. Voldemort was happy, very happy, and that was definitely something to worry about. Maybe Death Eaters broke out of Azkaban, that's what happened last year after all. This time seemed different though.

Harry shook himself out of his thoughts angrily. He hated not knowing what was going on. Dumbledore said at the end of the school year that it had been a mistake not to tell him about the prophecy sooner, so why was he doing the same thing again this summer! Voldemort had made a point of trying to kill him time and time again; wasn't it a good idea to tell him about Voldemort's plans? After all, if they had told him Voldemort's plans last year, he never would have gone to the Department of Mysteries and Sirius wouldn't have...fallen through the veil.

Harry crawled back in to bed and rested his back against the headboard, determined not to fall asleep. This wasn't the first time he had done it; after waking up several times a week over the summer, this practice had become routine.

As he continued to stare up at the ceiling he did vaguely wonder if Emmeline Vance had contacted Dumbledore yet. Maybe, the members of the Order were fighting even now, trying to stop Voldemort from carrying out his plans. Though, if Voldemort was happy his plan may have been carried out already. Harry tried to push all thoughts from his head, not in an effort to practice Occlumency, but to stop himself from worrying. There wasn't anything he could do right now so there was no point in getting himself worked up. Even as he told himself that, a small part of him couldn't help wondering why Voldemort was so happy. That was the last sensible thought he had before he started to drift back off to sleep.

A/N: Well chapter two is up! It may take a bit longer to write chapter three but I'll try my best; I like writing this story but I have a lot of mid-terms coming up. I will definitely post chapter three before Thanksgiving! Please read and review!


	3. Return to Grimmauld Place

Disclaimer: Seriously! I don't own Harry Potter!

**A/N:** Here's chapter three as promised! I actually got it up quicker than I thought I would, but I chose to write instead of study more (I'm horrible!). I'm going to try really hard to get chapter four up before I leave on the 23rd for Thanksgiving break, if I can't I'll probably try to update by the 30th at the absolute latest! Lastly, a big thanks to Eilisan and Mysterious-Storyteller for reviewing the story, you guys are awesome!!

Chapter 3: Return to Grimmauld Place

Harry had to wait another four days before he heard from the Order again. He was asleep when Hedwig returned from her trip to Hogwarts. She had to nip him on the hand to wake him up. Bleary-eyed, Harry fumbled for his glasses and saw that she had another piece of parchment attached to her leg. Curious, Harry sat up and removed the letter and read it:

_Harry,_

_Some members of the Order are going to come and pick you up _

_from the Dursley's on August fifth at about three o'clock_

_in the afternoon. Be packed and ready when they_

_arrive to take you to headquarters._

There was no name on the letter, but Harry could tell by looking that it was Dumbledore's handwriting. He read the letter twice again just to be sure he read everything correctly, apparently he had. He was going to leave the Dursleys's house tomorrow and spend the rest of the summer at Grimmauld Place. He still wasn't sure if he should be happy about that fact or not. On one hand, he would be leaving Privet Drive and wouldn't see any of his relatives again till next summer. On the other hand, he didn't want to go to Grimmauld Place knowing that Sirius wasn't going to be there.

To say that the Dursley's didn't take the news that wizards were coming to their house tomorrow very well was a big understatement. When Harry made the announcement over breakfast three things happened at once: his aunt dropped the plate of bacon she was carrying to the table, his uncle turned three shades redder than normal, and Dudley nearly turned the breakfast table over in an effort to get out of the kitchen as fast as he could. Harry almost laughed at their reactions, but decided against it the minute his uncle rounded on him.

"You will write to those _freaks_ and inform them you're not going! I remember what happened last time they came, our bloody living room got blown up and Dudders tongue grew four extra feet!" Uncle Vernon bellowed.

"I can't write them back!" Harry said exasperatedly' "They're coming to get me tomorrow and if you have a problem with that I'm sure you talk to Moody!"

Uncle Vernon stayed uncharacteristically quiet after this statement. Harry could tell from his face that his uncle was trying to figure out which was the less of those two evils. Obviously he was going to let the wizards pick his nephew up.

"Alright, you can have those..._people_ come and pick you up, but they have five minutes to do so!"

The rest of the day was rather quiet and subdued. Aunt Petunia started putting plastic covers over all the furniture and went about putting fire extinguishers in random places in the house (Harry even found one in the bathroom). Uncle Vernon was trying to unblock the fireplace and Dudley was busy finding wood to board up his door with when the wizards came tomorrow. All the while, Harry spent the day in his room packing for tomorrow.

He took his time, as he was in no hurry to return to Grimmauld Place. Harry wished there was a way he could just go to Hogwarts, to skip spending the summer at the headquarters of the Order. He wasn't ready to see everyone again; Mrs. Weasley would fuss over him and everyone else would give him pitying looks. He wasn't ready to deal with going to Grimmauld knowing his godfather wouldn't be there.

Unfortunately for Harry, the day went by rather fast and before he knew it he was sitting down with the Dursleys at the breakfast table the next morning. No one said a word at the table; the Dursleys were all afraid of this coming afternoon, when there would be wizards in their house. They did seem really nervous too; Uncle Vernon kept going outside checking to make sure the neighbors were too busy to spy on the house, and Aunt Petunia went about making the house even cleaner than normal.

The Order did pick him up at three o'clock exactly. They had all been in the living room when the clock turned three, and the doorbell rang. Both his aunt and uncle stared at it as if it were a basilisk. Since they didn't make a move to answer the door, Harry came down the stairs and opened it. There, standing on the doorstep, was none other than Remus Lupin.

He looked far older than Harry when he left him at the train station; it probably had to do with Sirius's death. He had more gray hairs than before and he looked much more tired. Nevertheless, he smiled when Harry opened the door and let him in. It looked like it was just Lupin there, but that didn't make any sense. Last year there had been at least a dozen wizards acting as his guard, why was this summer any different? Lupin must have seen Harry's curious expression because he answered the unspoken question.

"Tonks is under an invisibility cloak," he said quietly, "there won't be a need to have as many people here because we're taking a portkey to headquarters."

"That's absolutely right Remus!" Tonks said from behind him, as she discarded the invisibility cloak once the door was closed.

The Dursleys both jumped, obviously they knew nothing about invisibility cloaks. Uncle Vernon recovered first, however, and when he had found his voice, he began to yell.

"I will not have that unnaturalness under my roof! You have five minutes to take the boy and go! And I'll tell you another thing..."

What that other thing was, Harry didn't find out. At that same moment, Tonks pulled out her wand and pointed it right at Vernon.

"You were saying?" she said sweetly, still pointing the wand at him.

Uncle Vernon, however, seemed lost for words. He started sputtering indignantly and went bright red. Lupin looked slightly amused by this but after a moment he looked at the clock.

"Enough Tonks," he said, "we can't take very long here, remember?"

"Right, all packed, Harry? We'd better get going!"

Lupin nodded and pulled a crushed cola can out of his pocket. The Dursleys looked at him as if he was insane, but they soon started screaming as the living room began to dissolve around Harry. Before he knew it he landed facedown on the floor of the gloomy entryway of Number 12, Grimmauld Place. Remus helped him off the floor, and before he could recover completely, Mrs. Weasley emerged from the door that lead to the kitchen and pulled him into a big hug.

"Oh, Harry, I'm so glad your back!" She said while she gave him a second hug, "If your hungry you can go into the kitchen and get some food. The others have just started and I need to talk to Remus and Nymp...Tonks for a few minutes."

Harry looked over at Lupin and Tonks; both were not looking at him, and then went into the kitchen. Just before the door closed, he could see the three of them huddled together, talking about something that was obviously top secret. Shaking his head in frustration, Harry figured he'd ask the others what was going on. He had barely walked a few steps in the kitchen when he was given his third hug since arriving at Grimmauld. Hermione and Ginny were on either side of him with their arms around him, giving him a bone-crushing hug and talking very rapidly.

"Harry! I'm so glad you're finally here!"

"How was your summer?"

"Did you get the letters we sent?"

They continued on like this for sometime until Ron decided to rescue him. Harry shot him a thankful glance then looked around the table to see who was there. Bill was talking to the twins about their shop; Harry assumed it was doing well since the twins both wore new dragon skin suits with stripes of lurid colors. They all greeted Harry as he sat beside Ron and helped himself to some of the sandwiches at the table. At that moment, Mrs. Weasley, Tonks, and Lupin all walked into the kitchen and Bill got up to join them.

"They were probably talking about the secret Order meeting tonight;" Ron whispered to Harry.

"Don't worry though," Fred assured them.

"Yeah," George continued, "We've just invented something new to eavesdrop on tonight's meeting."

"Could be even better than the Extendables!" Fred said in a proud whisper.

Ron, and even Hermione, looked excited about this idea. Ginny nodded in agreement. Harry was rather sure that the Order would be very displeased to know that they were still listening to their conversations, but he found that he really didn't care so much. He had every right to know what Voldemort was up to and if the Order wasn't going to tell him, then he'd find out himself.

"Wait," Harry said to Fred and George, "the two of you have already left Hogwarts, why aren't you allowed to join?"

At this, both the twins exchanged dark looks.

"The Order--" Fred said.

"Or our mum at least--," continued George.

"feel that since we didn't exactly finish our N.E.W.Ts --"

"--we shouldn't join"

They looked like they were going to say more, but they stopped talking as the adults sat down at the table. Lupin gave them a suspicious look as he sat down, but didn't say anything. Hermione must have also seen this look because she immediately began to talk about S.P.E.W much to the others' dismay. Before she could really get on the topic, however, Harry cut her off.

"How did you two do on your O.W.Ls?" he quickly asked

Hermione didn't look like she appreciated the interruption, but her face brightened at the prospect of discussing grades.

"I got all 'Outstanding' O.W.Ls !" she said with more than a hint of pride in her voice.

"I got two O's, four E's, and three P's," Ron informed him, "not as good as Hermione's, but one of the O's was in _potions_!

"Yeah, I'm taking potions too!" Harry said, still not believing it, "I thought for sure that I failed it!"

"Can you picture the look on that git's face when we walk in there?" Ron said, ignoring Hermione's stern look. Harry could tell from his face though that Ron didn't really want to know the answer.

"Where's Kreacher?" Harry asked as the new thought struck him. He hadn't seen the house-elf anywhere in sight. He was rather relieved at that because if he had seen Kreacher, he didn't know what he would have done.

"He left," Ginny said.

"Left?" Harry said, confused, "but I thought he couldn't."

"He's gone to serve the Malfoy's now," Ron said with a disgusted look on his face, "serves that nutter right..."

The group fell silent just to hear the last bit of conversation that Mrs. Weasley was having with Bill, Tonks, and Lupin.

"...have to tell him tonight at the Order Meeting." She said.

"There's a meeting tonight?" Fred asked with interest, though he already knew the answer.

"Yes," Mrs. Weasley confirmed, "but never you mind about that."

After saying this, she started arguing with Bill over hair length, but missed the look Fred shared with everyone else at the table that weren't in the Order. They were planning something, and Harry was sure it had something to do with the meeting tonight.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What's going on with the meeting tonight?" Harry asked once he, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were alone in the room he and Ron had shared last summer.

"That's the thing," Hermione said, "We're not really sure. The Order puts Imperturbable Charms on the door during the meetings, it's impossible to hear anything that goes on in the room."

Hermione was about to continue but was interrupted by a loud popping noise as the twins apparated into the room.

"Ah, but it isn't, Hermione," George said with a triumphant look on his face.

"How did you know what we were talking about?" Ron asked confused.

To answer Ron's question, Fred walked over to the wall and pulled off a black speck that looked like a bug.

"These," he said with a big grin.

"What are they?" Harry asked.

"We'll show you," George said while kneeling on the floor.

Everyone else knelt down with them and watched as Fred set the black speck on the floor. All of a sudden, the black speck unfolded itself and began to crawl around the room on eight legs, rather like a spider. Harry and Hermione watched its path amazed; Ron, however, jumped back onto his bed out of fear. Fred and George snorted with laughter before continuing on with their explanation.

"These are Spyders!" George announced proudly.

"We can put these into any room to hear AND see what's going on," Fred said.

"See?" Hermione questioned, "How will we be able to see what's going on?"

"With these," George smirked and pulled out a pair of what looked like Muggle sunglasses with earphones coming out the sides.

"And how do you suppose we'll get one of these things into the Order meeting?" Ron asked, looking a lot keener to join the others on the floor now that he knew that the spider was a fake one.

"Already done!" George stated, "and we have six pairs of the sunglasses for all of us."

George took out more pairs from a pocket and handed the sunglasses to each of them.

"Oy!" Fred said as he looked at the watch, "the meeting's started!"

Harry immediately shoved the pair on over his own glasses, and saw the other five do the same. After he put them on, a screen appeared on the sunglasses and the room where the meeting was starting came into focus. It was rather like watching a movie.

Harry could make out several people that he knew. Tonks was talking to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley while Kingsley Shacklebolt and Lupin seemed to be talking to Moody and Professor McGonagall. Emmeline Vance was in a conversation with Bill and, to his surprise, Fleur Delacour! When did she join the Order? He also saw Snape there, sitting off away from most of the crowd. The low murmuring in the room quieted down, and people began to take their seats when Dumbledore rose and began to address the room looking very grim.

"It has indeed been confirmed," he began without preamble, "that Voldemort (almost everyone in the room winced at the sound of his name) is now in possession of the amulet. Many Muggles in the vicinity of the museum claim they saw buglers in black cloaks and white masks before the Aurors modified their memories."

"What good will the amulet be to him now?" asked Emmeline Vance, "the his Death Eaters have killed the only person capable of getting it to work."

"I really don't know," Dumbledore stated, "unless it truly wasn't Sirius who sealed the amulet the last time Voldemort (collective shudders) tried to steal it."

"_Sirius!" Harry thought, "What could this possibly have to do with Sirius?"_

"No, it was him," said a square-jawed wizard named Sturgis Podmore, "I was there when he sealed it. It couldn't have been anyone else."

Harry noticed the silence that fell around the room. Many of the Order members looked lost in their own thoughts. Lupin, however, looked as if he were battling himself over a difficult decision to make. The silence lasted a few more minutes before Snape broke it.

"There has to be a reason the Dark Lord stole it," he reasoned, "He must have found some way to access its power."

"That would be impossible," Dumbledore said firmly, "the only way he could use it is with Sirius's blood, and he is beyond his reach. Sirius is gone and he has no children Voldemort could use to access the amulet's powers."

"That's not entirely true," Lupin said regretfully at last, as the whole room stared at him.

Harry looked at his face and saw the resignation on it. He couldn't possibly mean what he just said!

Obviously Dumbledore was thinking along these same lines because he said, "What do you mean, Remus?"

Lupin took a deep breath before continuing. Harry could hear Hermione let out a loud gasp of surprise but he still focused on Lupin.

"Sirius has a daughter and if Voldemort knows about her, he can use her to reawaken the amulet's powers."

The whole room looked like they were trying to digest the piece of information Lupin had just given them. Harry himself was numb with disbelief. _Why hadn't Sirius told him? _

"Where is she now?" Dumbledore asked suddenly.

"In France now with her godmother," Lupin said slowly, almost as if he did not want to tell them any of this.

"Godmother?" Professor McGonagall said, "Where is her mother?"

"Probably ran off after she found out that Black was the father," Snape snorted bitterly.

Lupin gave him a look of deep hatred before he said quietly, "She's dead."

"Who was her mother?" Dumbledore asked softly.

Lupin seemed to be bracing himself to answer the question because he fell silent and didn't speak for a long while. Harry noticed that Dumbledore opened his mouth to repeat the question when Lupin finally spoke.

"It's Sasha," he said quietly.

Many of the newer Order members, like Tonks and the Weasleys, obviously didn't know who Lupin was talking about by the look of confusion written on their faces. The ones who were there for Voldemort's first war, however, looked stunned. Even Dumbledore, Harry noticed, was thoroughly shocked by this revelation. Snape, in contrast to all the others, looked quite beside himself in anger.

"Black!" he said, his voice quivering with deep fury, "Black and my sister!"

"Yes," Lupin said softly, even though most of the people in the room didn't look like they believed him.

"But they despised each other!" Professor McGonagall said weakly.

"Regardless of what happened, if this is true, we need to bring her here as quickly as possible, before Voldemort discovers she exists." Dumbledore said, leaving no room for debate.

"I don't see how he could," Lupin said, "The only ones who knew were James and Lily. _I_ didn't even find out about her until last year."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Moody interrupted, "Pettigrew was spying on us, he could have overheard them. We can't take that risk!"

"I agree," Dumbledore said, "We have to go to France, as quickly as possible, and bring her here before Voldemort does."

"Eef ze girl livees in France, zen does she go to Beauxbatons?" Fleur asked suddenly.

"Yes she does," Lupin answered, "her name is Lyra."

"Lyra!" Fleur repeated, looking astonished, "but I know 'er!"

"I'll go," Lupin said, turning to Dumbledore, "She knows who I am and I can tell her godmother what's going on."

Dumbledore merely nodded, he still looked lost in thought. Lupin got up and left the room. As the door shut behind him, Dumbledore finally turned to Snape and spoke.

"Severus, Voldemort will most likely ask you where your niece is. Be sure not to tell him anything until Remus returns."

"Yes, Headmaster," he said, though he really didn't look like he was paying attention. If anything, he looked as if someone had force-fed him an entire tube of bubotuber pus.

"Well, I think we've said just about everything for one evening," Dumbledore said, trying to add a note of cheer to his voice, "I think it best we end the meeting here, I myself am feeling rather hungry."

At this, most of the Order members filed out of the room, muttering in low whispers as they went. Mrs. Weasley went into the kitchen door to prepare dinner muttering all the way there. Harry noticed, however, that Professor McGonagall was in a deep conversation with Dumbledore. He adjusted the volume on his sunglasses so he could hear their whispers.

"Albus, what do you plan to do with the girl once she is here?" she asked, "She cannot stay at Grimmauld for the entire year."

"That is something we must decide once she gets here," He answered simply, then a smile touched his face, "I do believe, however, that Hogwarts will soon be home to another child of the infamous Marauders."

Professor McGonagall looked almost frightened by that idea, but instead she said, "We should tell Potter and the other children. They'll need to know this."

"I agree," Dumbledore said, "which is exactly why I'm staying for dinner tonight."

"Bill," Mrs. Weasley called from the kitchen, "could you go upstairs and tell that lot that dinner is almost ready?"

At that bit of conversation, all six of them simultaneously took off the sunglasses. Harry handed his back to George without a word.

"Well," Fred said, as he pocketed the glasses, "that was a very interesting bit of news!"

"Yeah, too right you are!" Ron agreed.

"Sirius never said he had a daughter," Hermione said, her voice a little shaken.

George looked like he wanted to add something to that, but before he got the opportunity to the door opened and Bill walked into the room.

"Meeting is over," he announced, "Mum wants you all down fast. Dumbledore has something he has to tell you."

They all picked themselves up off the floor and marched out the door. As Harry was walking, he felt someone tug on the sleeve of his shirt. He turned to see that it was Hermione. There was concern written all across her face.

"Harry?" she said uncertainly.

She didn't say anything else, but Harry could guess that she was worried about his reaction to what he just heard. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel about discovering that his godfather had a daughter, and he didn't feel the need to inform him. He didn't know what to think. At last they reached the kitchen and Harry walked through the door.

"_Why didn't Sirius tell me?"_ he thought silently to himself as the door swung shut and he looked up to face Dumbledore.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**A/**N: Well, this seemed like a good place to end the chapter. Please don't kill me...I promise the next chapter will be up soon!! Well it's about four in the morning here so I'm gonna get some sleep!! Don't forget to read and review!!


	4. Secrets and Revelations

Chapter 4: Secrets and Revelations

Harry didn't like the fact that just about every pair of eyes in the room was fixed on him when he walked in. He sat down uncomfortably and looked at Dumbledore, waiting for him to talk. After everyone had seated themselves down and Mrs. Weasley began to serve dinner, the silence was broken and Dumbledore spoke.

"I have called you all down here because there is something important you all should know," he began, his eyes never leaving Harry's face.

Harry already thought he knew what Dumbledore was going to say. So did everyone else in the room. He thought it best to pretend that he didn't though; Dumbledore didn't know about their new way of eavesdropping on the Order meetings, and he preferred to leave it that way.

"Remus is now on his way to France to bring someone back here," Dumbledore continued, choosing his words carefully, "a girl actually, who will need our protection from Voldemort."

"Who is she and why is she so important?" Harry asked slowly, in what he hoped was an innocent tone.

"Her name is Lyra and Voldemort is after her— " he paused for a moment, "she is Sirius's daughter."

Harry hoped that his face looked surprised, though he was still surprised by this revelation, so he thought it would show. Professor McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley, however, were narrowing their eyes suspiciously from the lack of reaction from Fred and George. If Dumbledore noticed he didn't show it.

"Why does Voldemort want her?" Harry asked again; Dumbledore had never fully answered that question.

"If he knows about her, he will be able to use her to gain access to a new power, one that can ensure him victory," Dumbledore said.

"But what kind of power—" Hermione began, but Mrs. Weasley cut her off.

"It's not for you lot to know," she said impatiently and, turning to Dumbledore, continued, "I think we've told them enough for now!"

Dumbledore stared at her for a few minutes, watching her carefully, then nodded his head.

Harry felt a new burst of anger engulf him. Who were they to decide what he could and couldn't know! Voldemort wanted to kill HIM after all! He felt someone kick his leg in a warning though. He looked to see Hermione shake her head a fraction back and forth, hardly noticeable. Harry understood her though; they would find out next time the Order met.

"Well, I think we should eat!" Mr. Weasley said cheerfully.

Dinner was a rather quiet affair. There were bits of conversation around the room, but it was mostly quiet. Harry was lost in his own thoughts. He was about half way through dinner though when a new thought occurred to him. Why didn't he think of this before!

"Professor, am I still banned from Quidditch?" He asked.

"No, Potter!" Professor McGonagall answered, "but do try to control that temper next time."

"Yes, Professor," he said, feeling a weight lifted off his chest. He could keep playing Quidditch!

He was in a much better mood as he finished dinner. He, Ron, and Hermione all went up to the bedroom he and Ron shared. As they walked across the hall, they were careful not to wake up Mrs. Black's portrait. They finally reached the room and when Harry got in he went to his bed and sat down.

"Well…" Ron trailed off. He didn't have to say anything else; they were all thinking about what Dumbledore had told him earlier.

"Why didn't he tell me!?" Harry said angrily, finally speaking the thought that had been echoing through his head.

Ron and Hermione looked rather taken aback by his sudden harshness, but Hermione was the one to actually start talking.

"I don't know, Harry," she said in a pacifying voice, "he—he must have had a good reason… after all, he didn't even tell Dumbledore."

"But Snape's sister?" Ron said incredulously, "I hope she didn't inherit the git's nose!"

"I'm more interested in the amulet that they were talking about in the meeting. I wonder why Voldemort—honestly, Ron!" Hermione said as Ron winced, "why he wants it?"

Ron just shrugged. Harry, however, just remembered a stray thought that had occurred a few days ago.

"There was something stolen from a London museum a few days ago, the same day Voldemort was really happy," he said slowly, "the broadcaster didn't say what it was, just that it was stolen from their Roman exhibit."

"Yeah," Ron said as if he just remembered something too, "I heard Tonks and Bill talking about a robbery, they said that the Muggles blamed it on—burgers."

"Burglars," Hermione corrected him impatiently, "Maybe that's where they stole the amulet from."

"Maybe," Harry agreed.

"Well," Hermione said abruptly, "I'm going to get some sleep. I expect we'll have a busy day tomorrow."

With that, she got up and left the room. Ron got up and closed the door behind her. Harry was already getting under the covers of the bed, ready to finally fall asleep. He still was angry about the lack of information, but there were bigger things to worry about now, like the arrival of Sirius's daughter. It wasn't that he didn't like her, he didn't even know her, but he didn't want to face her knowing that he was the one responsible for killing her father. He was sure that she'd blame him, but he wasn't sure he could live with the guilt.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next few days passed without much incident. Harry had been busier as Grimmauld Place than he had all summer. Apparently there were still rooms in the house that hadn't undergone a good cleaning. On his third day, Harry found himself cleaning the sitting room in the Black house; a room he didn't even know existed until this afternoon. It was rather surprising to see what had decided to live sofas and other furniture over the years. He had just finished cleaning out the desk, the live dust bunnies put up a big fight, when Mrs. Weasley called for a lunch break. They all marched to the kitchen and sat at the table as Mrs. Weasley passed around sandwiches. Harry was halfway through his when the kitchen door opened and Lupin walked in.

"Remus," Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, "Where have you been? Dumbledore expected you back yesterday!"

"I had trouble convincing Breena to let me take her goddaughter back to England," Lupin said wearily, "she agreed though once I told her that Voldemort was after Lyra."

"Where is she?" Mrs. Weasley said, looking around the room.

"She went to take her suitcase upstairs," he answered, "she should be down soon."

"Well, why don't you have some lunch, you had a long journey," she said and pointed to the sandwiches.

"Thanks, Molly," he said gratefully and sat at the table.

"How was your trip, Professor?" Hermione said.

"Long," he said cryptically, "and I'm not a professor anymore. You can call me Remus or Lupin."

Harry saw Hermione go slightly red when Lupin said this. He was just about to reach over and grab another sandwich, when the kitchen door opened, and he stopped mid-reach. He instead fixed his eyes on the strange girl that had just walked in. She had very dark, ebony hair that went in elegant curls down her shoulders and very stormy, grey eyes. He couldn't help but notice that she was rather pretty.

"Everyone," Lupin said when he noticed her enter, "this is Lyra Black."

"Hi," Lyra said, but the smile was absent from her face. She didn't look very happy about being brought to Grimmauld place.

"Dear," Mrs. Weasley said, her tone leaving no room for refusal, "you must be hungry after the long flight! Sit down, eat a sandwich!"

Harry saw her cross the room and sit down next to Lupin.

"Your from France," Hermione asked Lyra as she put a sandwich on the plate that had appeared in front of her, "did you go to Beauxbatons?"

"Yeah," Lyra said after swallowing a large bit of the food, "I lived in Toulouse since I was six. Breena, my godmother, got a job offer there so we moved and I got to go to Beauxbatons instead of Hogwarts. She thought it would be better for me to go there anyway—given certain relatives and all."

"What! Snape?" Ron asked, as Harry kicked him under the table.

"Yeah…" Lyra said and trailed off there.

"How did you know she's related to Snape?" Lupin asked suspiciously.

"So did you take the O.W.Ls at your school?" Hermione asked in a desperate bid to keep away from the subject Ron had just brought up.

"Sort of," she said, and then clarified, "We actually take C.A.Ts (Common Abilities Test). I got six T's, two E's, and an A"

"You got six 'Trolls' on your test!?" Fred said, looking surprised, "I didn't even think those really existed!"

"No!" Lyra exclaimed, and for the first time, Harry saw her smile, " They stand for 'Terrific' that's the highest grade you can score!"

"Oh," he said, though he sounded rather disappointed.

"So what is your best subject?" Hermione asked eagerly.

"Potions," Lyra said simply.

"Must run in the family," Ron whispered to Harry.

"Alright you lot," Mrs. Weasley said suddenly, "we have a sitting room to finish cleaning."

"We'd love to help finish Mum—" Fred said.

"—but we have to go to the shop now," George finished. With that said they both disapparated.

Harry followed Ron and Hermione reluctantly back to the sitting room, hoping it wouldn't be much longer till it was finished. He wasn't even sure if the Order even needed that room cleaned! At least while he was cleaning he could avoid Lyra, who was upstairs unpacking. He didn't want to hear her blame him for Sirius's death, because he knew it was true. Luckily, the room only took another few hours to clean, now with all the dust and other creatures out of the room it seemed to look a little less gloomy. As they walked out to the hall, Harry thought he heard someone talking. As he got closer he recognized the voice as Lyra's and heard the last bit of conversation.

"…why Voldemort is after me, Remus!" he heard her say.

"I'm not allowed to tell you why, all I can tell you is that he needs you and he will come after you," Lupin said as calmly as he could, though Harry could hear a note of panic in his voice.

The next thing he heard was footsteps walking up the stairs. Harry looked at Ron, who just shrugged, and Hermione, who looked thoughtful. She started to walk up the staircase, with Harry and Ron following right behind her.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked as he climbed the last step.

"We're going to talk to Lyra," Hermione answered as she walked over to the door of her room and went in.

Lyra was rummaging through her bag when they walked in, but she suddenly stopped and raised a questioning eyebrow at them.

"We heard the conversation," Hermione said as she closed the door.

"You did?" Lyra asked and she set the bag aside.

"Yeah, if it helps, we know why they brought you here," Ron said, only to be nudged in the ribs by Hermione.

"You know why?" Lyra said, looking both confused and eager, "how could you know?"

"Fred and George," Harry explained, "they invented a way for us to spy on the Order meetings."

"So that's how you knew I was related to Severus?" she asked with a slight smile on her face, "Why am I here then?"

Hermione took a deep breath then said, "From what we've heard, Voldemort wants you because Sirius sealed some sort of amulet that your blood can open and get whatever power it has—"

"Amulet?" Lyra interrupted her, and then she looked thoughtful, "my godmother liked to tell me stories about an amulet?"

"You know what it's for?" Hermione asked eagerly.

"Maybe…" she trailed off with a slightly confused expression on her face, "She told me a tale once about a man who lived back in the days of the Hogwarts Founders…"

'The man fell in love with a beautiful woman and they were married. He wanted to spend all eternity with her, so he started to make an amulet to give him and his wife an immortal life so they could be with each other forever. He almost finished it after many years, but before he could complete it with the final ingredient, blood, his wife was bitten by a snake and died. At her grave, he vowed that not he or anyone else would ever have the gift of immortal life. He tried to destroy the amulet, but he couldn't because he made it unbreakable, so he tossed it into the river and it was lost for centuries, becoming nothing more than a legend. '

'A thousand years later, a magical kingdom found the amulet at last. They brought it back to the magical castle to study it, but a dark wizard stole it from them. He would have used it to gain immortal life and bring the entire kingdom into darkness, but a handsome prince stopped the evil wizard by sealing the amulet with a blood bind, using his own blood so that only he and his bloodline could access the power. After the evil wizard was defeated, the prince gave the amulet to a good wizard, who sent it to a far off Muggle world to keep it safe…"

She finished telling the story and looked up at the three of them.

"That's your godmother's idea of a story?!" Ron said incredulously.

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, "don't you get it? It wasn't just any story!"

When Harry and Ron both looked at her confused she continued, "Honestly, are you two always so thick!? The amulet gives someone an immortal life! The Ministry of Magic found it and brought it back with them, but Voldemort stole it and Sirius must have stopped him by putting a sort of blood binding spell on it so that only his blood could open its powers! Voldemort needs Lyra to open the amulet's powers and give him an immortal life! "

Realization dawned on Ron's face and he said suddenly, "but that's not a good thing!"

"Well said," Hermione snapped sarcastically.

"Just because we're not as clever as you doesn't mean that you can rub it in our faces!" Ron said indignantly.

They continued to bicker for a few more minutes, their voices steadily increasing in volume. Lyra looked like she was going to interrupt, but she caught Harry's eye and he shook his head in a warning. He had been around Ron and Hermione long enough to know not to interrupt their arguments. Besides, they would stop eventually.

Harry slowly got up and walked out the door before they could notice he was gone. If what Lyra said was true, Voldemort was after an immortal life, something he had not tried for since the Sorcerer's stone. He had the amulet, now all he needed was Lyra to be able to access it. No wonder Dumbledore brought her here! If Voldemort got an immortal life… Harry shuddered. Dumbledore should have told him!

Before Harry realized it, he was back at the door to his room. He tried not to think about the disturbing revelations that he had just found out about mere minutes ago. Lyra was safe with them! As long as she was under Dumbledore's protection Voldemort couldn't get to her! He had to tell himself that if he was going to get through the rest of his summer. Yet all the while the doubt and uncertainty was gnawing away at him. All he could think about is what would happen if Voldemort got an immortal life…

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**A/N:** Here's chapter four as promised! I would have had it up sooner but I couldn't log in. Well I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it that is, if not I hope you have a nice day anyway. Hopefully I'll be back to writing soon.

Next Update: 12/1/2004


	5. Dark Rooms and Memories

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!

Chapter 5: Dark Rooms and Memories

The moon shone brightly overhead, illuminating everything in its path. It didn't really matter to Harry, who was walking through the dense Forbidden Forest. If the sunrays couldn't penetrate the shield created by the trees, then there was no chance for the moon. The sounds created by the unknown creatures made Harry uneasy and he almost wanted to turn around and go back—but he couldn't. He was out here for a reason; he was…looking for something? He wasn't really sure but he knew he had to continue on.

The farther he got, the foggier it became until it resembled the nothing more than a big crystal ball. That's when he saw them.

Two dementors stepped through the fog and came straight at him. He felt the effects immediately; the minute they came across his path the voices started to fill his head again. Only one of those voices was enough to render him helpless.

"Come on, you can do better than that…" 

Sirius's last words. They were enough to rob Harry of any happy thought he was going to use to summon his patronus. He could feel himself getting dizzy, almost to the point of passing out. The dementors' rattling breath was getting closer until Harry was staring straight at the dementors' hood.

Harry didn't register when exactly his wand came into his hand or when he shouted "Expecto Patronum."

The silvery animal burst out of his wand and charged at the dementers. To Harry's surprise it wasn't a stag—it was a grim! The demeters faded away, but the patronus continued to float through the bushes.

"Wait!" Harry shouted as he ran to follow it. The silvery grim never faded, it kept running through the darkness. Harry had to quicken his pace as he struggled to keep up, brushing back the lower branches of trees as he went. The grim led him to a small clearing; only it wasn't empty, in the very center stood the stone archway and veil. The grim leapt and went straight through it, vanishing into nothingness. He made to follow but before he could, a loud BANG ended the dream.

Harry sat up with a jolt and looked around to see the source of the noise. He didn't have to look far to find Ron's owl, Pig, banging its head against the metal bars of his cage in an attempt to escape. Amazingly, Ron continued to snore, undisturbed by the noise, only Harry had woken up. He subconsciously rubbed his scar, more out of habit than actual pain. Why did he keep having these dreams!?

Harry didn't feel like sleeping, he couldn't anymore, so he got up and left the room. He didn't expect anyone to be up so early in the morning, but when he opened the kitchen door, he gave a start of surprise when he saw Lupin there. He looked up at Harry as soon as he heard the door open and close.

"Harry, what are you doing up at this time in the morning!?" he exclaimed.

"I could ask you the same thing," Harry said, trying to deflect his question.

"The full moon is in a few days," Lupin answered dismissively, then smiled faintly, "besides that's not going to work on me. Lily used to always answer questions with questions when she didn't want to talk about something."

Harry hesitated and then sat down. He had to tell someone about the dreams. He didn't want to go to Dumbledore.

"I had another dream," he said carefully, "I've been dreaming about the veil all summer."

He explained the dream in some great length to Lupin. When Harry finished, he looked a little paler than usual but thoughtful nonetheless.

"I'm not the one to go to for dream interpretations, I was never very good at Divination," he said finally, "maybe you have these dreams because a part of you still feels responsible for Sirius's death."

"Maybe," he said slowly, only half convinced.

"It's not your fault he died, Harry!" Lupin said, "He would have wanted you to be safe."

"Why didn't he tell me that he had a daughter?" Harry said suddenly. He didn't know why, but he had to know the answer.

"I think it was because he really didn't know how to tell you," Lupin said after considering his words carefully, "I only found out about Lyra last summer, and that's because I refused to let Sirius go to France alone when he told me that he had something to take care of there. He told me finally, but he made me swear that I wouldn't tell anyone else. Part of me still thinks that I shouldn't have told Dumbledore."

"You had to though!" Harry exclaimed, "What if Wormtail knows that he has a daughter? I think Sirius would want Lyra to be safe."

"Yes he would," Lupin agreed, "that's the reason he didn't tell too many people in the first place. He didn't want the Black family to find out that he had a pure blooded daughter, they would have insisted on raising her."

Harry thought of Mrs. Black's portrait and understood. The next moment Mrs. Weasley came into the kitchen and started at the sight of Harry and Remus.

"What are you two doing up so early!? " She exclaimed, but she didn't wait for them to answer, "I'll get breakfast started and hopefully the others will be up soon too. There are still a lot of rooms left to clean."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luckily, Mrs. Weasley could not find any more rooms in the Black House that needed to be cleaned. This gave Harry and the others the afternoon off, which Harry and Ron spent playing chess while Hermione and Ginny watched. They had been halfway through the game when Fred walked into the room, just in time to see Ron's knight slice the head off Harry's bishop. He looked up at Fred just in time to see something thrown at him.

"Hogwarts letters have arrived!" he said cheerfully as they caught their letters.

Harry scanned down the list of books and supplies he needed for his classes. The only new book on there was _The Dark Arts Outsmarted_.

"I guess Dumbledore found a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Hermione said scanning her own list.

"Yeah," Ron said, "let's just hope she's not worse than Umbridge!"

"I don't think anyone could be worse than Umbridge," Harry said absentmindedly, looking down at his hand where the words were still etched in his skin. They weren't as noticeable as they were a few months ago, maybe they would fade after all. Across the room, Ginny gave an audible gasp of surprise.

"What's wrong, Ginny!?" Fred asked looking concerned.

"I'm…I'm a prefect!" she stuttered.

"That's everyone in the family," Fred stated, looking rather disappointed by this, "Well, I'm off to find my fellow neighbor before mum finds out!"

"Good job, Ginny!" Hermione said as Fred disapparated out of the room.

Mrs. Weasley came into the room only moments later and threw her arms around Ginny.

"I was so worried you were going to turn out like your other brothers!" she sobbed as Ginny was gasping for breath, "So what will it be?"

"I think I'd like a new pet," Ginny said happily, "maybe an owl."

"Of course, dear!" she said, then turning to the rest of them, "give me the lists and I'll go get your things in Diagon Alley today."

They all handed over their lists, then Mrs. Weasley left the room to get Lyra's list. Harry returned to his chess game with Ron, while Ginny and Hermione were discussing possible owl names.

Once the game was over (Ron won predictably) they all headed back down the stairway. Once they got to the last step, Fred and George called their brother from the top of the stairs.

"Hey, Catch Ron!" George said as he threw the Quaffle down to his younger brother.

Unfortunately, he threw it with more force than necessary, and the result sent Ron crashing into the serpent candelabra, waking up the portrait of Mrs. Black.

The curtains flew back and the old woman began to yell in a screeching voice," FILTH! FREAKS! HOW DARE YOU BEFOUL THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS—"

Fred and George hurried down the stairs to help Harry and Ron close the curtain, but it was no use, it wouldn't close. As Harry was struggling, he heard hurried footsteps clamoring upstairs and looked just in time to see Lyra practically running down the stairs. At the sight of her, Mrs. Black's voice only seemed to screech higher, almost like a banshee's, as she pointed her claw like finger at Lyra.

"YOU! VILE WHELP OF THAT BLOOD TRAITOR! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE IN THE NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK!"

In response, Lyra pulled out her wand and without any hesitation said, _"Silencio!"_

Surprisingly, the curtains flew back shut and Mrs. Black was silenced.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Fred complimented her, "but your not supposed to use magic if your underage!"

"The legal age to use magic in France is sixteen, and I turned sixteen in August," Lyra explained, but she wasn't looking at him. Her attention was instead focused on an empty space where another portrait was supposed to be beside Sirius's mum. Harry stared at the empty space. That hadn't been there before!

"Where did that come from?" Hermione asked breathlessly.

"I think it appeared when Ron knocked over the candelabra," Harry said.

Harry saw Lyra move to the doorway of the hidden room and took a step in.

"You're not actually going in there!?" Hermione said surprised, "There could be something dangerous in there!"

Lyra didn't answer her, though, she walked straight into the darkness and disappeared. Fred and George looked at each other, shrugged, and then followed her in, with Harry, Ron, and Hermione behind them.

As soon as they stepped into the room, the torches from above magically turned on. There was a bitter rush of wind that met them the moment they stepped further into the room. The room was rather huge and, in the dim lighting, he could make out the enormous, dusty shelves of books. He suspected that most of the books here, maybe even all of them, were about Dark Arts when he walked past a copy of the book _Most Potente Potions_, which was in much better condition than the one at Hogwarts.

"A library!" Hermione said, while she was inspecting the shelf of books closest to her, "It's full of Dark Arts!"

"You sound surprised by that," Lyra said sulkily, inspecting another shelf looking intensely at one of the books, "what else would be in this house? We should probably get an Order member though, I don't think they would be too happy to find this room here."

"I'll go," Ron volunteered, "I think Lupin and my dad are still here."

Harry watched Ron walk out of the room, but peripherally, he thought he saw Lyra grab a book from the shelf. He must have imagined it, though, because when he turned to look at her she was leaning against the shelf with her arms folded. Remus appeared a few minutes later, with Mr. Weasley following close behind him. One look at the room and they ordered everyone else out.

"We'll talk to Dumbledore tonight and ask him what we should do with the room," Mr. Weasley said shaking his head, "All of those books in that room are dangerously illegal."

While Mr. Weasley and Remus were in the process of moving the candelabra so the portrait would cover the secret room again, Mrs. Weasley returned carrying a dusty colored barn owl, which she handed to a delighted Ginny who came down the stairs. Mrs. Weasley wasn't very happy to learn that such a room existed in the Black house. She muttered darkly and left the room after making sure that Harry and the others did the same.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They had a party to celebrate Ginny being made a prefect, just as they had done for Ron and Hermione last summer. There were a lot of Order members who decided to come. Today Tonk's hair was black and curly; Harry could see a slight resemblance to her and Lyra. He could also spot Bill and Fleur talking, and a little farther away, Mundungus, Shacklebolt, and Dumbledore, who came to inspect the mysterious dark library, were all in a conversation. Everyone began to grab food and make their way over to the long kitchen table. Harry was sitting on either side of Ron and Hermione, and across from Ginny.

"Congratulations, Ginny!" Lyra said, smiling as she set her plate on the table and sat next to Fleur.

"Did you have prefects at Beaxubatons?" Hermione asked curiously.

"We had something like it," Lyra answered before she put a meatball in her mouth.

"Were you one?" Ginny asked, causing Fleur beside her to choke with laughter.

"I zink zat she lost 'er chance when she used an ice charm to freeze all ze classrooms shut so no one could get in for zeir classes ze day before Chreestmas break."

"Allegedly! They never proved it was me," Lyra said, pretending to be hurt. Though, Harry could tell that she was grinning.

Harry and Ron laughed, but Hermione looked rather aghast. Fred and George, however, were looking at her, clearly impressed.

"I am sure that you had nothing to do with it," Dumbledore assured her, with a twinkle in his eyes, as he turned away from his conversation with Remus, "You do seem to take after your father, after all— "

Whatever else he was going to say was halted as Snape swept into the room. Harry felt the dread creep through him. He wouldn't have come here so he could congratulate Ginny…

"Ah, Severus," Dumbledore said cheerfully, "what brings you here?"

Snape's eyes darted over to his niece for a few seconds, then when it became obvious that Dumbledore was not going to dismiss her, he said, "He knows that Black has a daughter."

"I was afraid of that," Dumbledore sighed, suddenly looking very tired.

"Headmaster, perhaps it would be best if she stayed in this house instead of coming to Hogwarts," Snape suggested.

"I think she will be safe at Hogwarts," Dumbledore said, watching Snape carefully.

"I'm not staying at Grimmauld Place," Lyra stated firmly, glaring at Snape.

"Do you want to want to die just like your worthless father?" Snape spat at her.

The silence that followed this comment lasted for an excruciatingly long time. A lot of the people in the room were now glaring at Snape. Harry felt the anger engulf him. If Hermione and Ron weren't restraining him, nothing would have stopped him from pulling out his wand and hexing Snape right then and there, underage magic or not. Lyra, however, didn't shout or even reach for her wand, though he could see her fingers twitch. Harry could see the storm brewing in her angry eyes and, for a moment, he was even sure he saw a flash of lightening in their depts.

"Go to hell!" she said in a voice icy enough to freeze Harry's blood.

Without saying anything else, she turned and headed out of the room. Snape watched her go and for the briefest second Harry thought he saw a look of…regret…cross the potion master's face. It was gone as quickly as it came, replaced with his usual look of loathing as he swept out of the house. Harry watched him go in fury. Suddenly, he wasn't enjoying the party anymore and he snuck out while things were going back to normal.

He walked down through the hallway, intending to go upstairs, but a sudden crash coming from Sirius's old room drove him over there. When he opened the door, he saw Lyra there going through the drawers. He was about to leave, but she looked up and saw him standing there.

"Shouldn't you be at the party?' she asked as she closed one drawer and opened a new one, her eyes avoiding his face.

"I didn't feel like staying anymore," Harry said, then asked, "What are you looking for?"

"Breena gave dad an album last year," She said as she shifted aside the contents of the second drawer before she pulled out a small, square mirror.

Harry felt numb. That was the other mirror that Sirius had given him last Christmas to keep in touch; if he had just tried the mirror first maybe Sirius wouldn't have died. Lyra must have seen the gloomy look on his face because she handed the mirror to him.

"Is this something important?" she asked softly.

Harry tried to speak but his throat constricted so he contented himself to nodding instead. She still held the mirror out for him to take, which he did.

"It's a mirror that you can use to talk to others through," Harry explained as Lyra looked at it curiously, "I have the other one."

Lyra nodded, but she didn't comment further. Harry watched her as she continued looking through the drawer. After several minutes of silence, Harry saw her pull out what she was looking for. It was a black, leather album that looked like it was still in good condition. After flipping through the pages briefly, she got up and sat on the bed right next to Harry. She set the book in her lap and opened the album to the first page. He looked at the pictures in amazement. He saw a younger looking Sirius smiling and waving at them while he held a little girl in his arms. He looked so happy; his eyes didn't yet have the deadened look that Azkaban had given him.

"That was my mother," Lyra said, pointing to the picture right across the one he was looking at.

Harry looked where Lyra had pointed and saw a young woman with curly, black hair holding the same little girl. She didn't look at all like he thought Snape's sister would look. She didn't have his nose for one thing. He could tell that Lyra looked a lot like her mum, but she looked a lot like Sirius too.

"What happened to her?" Harry asked before he could remember that she was dead.

"Voldemort killed her a few months after I was born," Lyra said desolately as she stared at her mother's picture.

As Lyra flipped to the end, he saw an older looking Sirius, the one that Harry remembered, hugging his daughter.

"Breena took that shortly after my third year when we were in New Zealand," she said with a tremor in her voice as she fell silent, but then continued, "I don't blame you."

Harry stared at her. He had not expected nor was he prepared for the abrupt change in conversation. He looked right in her eyes and he could see the tears building up within.

"How can you not?" He said finally as he felt the guilt overcome him, "If I hadn't gone to the Department-"

"You were tricked into going there!" she said, cutting him off, "Bellatrix sent him into the veil and Vodemort is the one that brought you there in the first place!"

"He didn't need to be rescued!" Harry said as he felt his temper rising.

"And what would have happened if he did!?" Lyra said fiercely, "I would have done the exact same thing you did, had I saw dad being tortured…and I know he would have too…I assume that's why you were avoiding me?" she finished softly, to which he nodded.

She smiled sadly then sat up and checked her watch and said, "Well, I think in going to try and get some sleep. I'm not in much of a mood for a party."

Harry watched her leave the room with the book tucked under the crook of her arm. He had never thought of it that way before. He felt slightly more relieved after talking to her—she didn't blame him! He had possibly felt better in that moment than he had all summer.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: If anyone is reading this story, please feel free to post any questions, comments, suggestions, or criticisms you have about this story. I'm going to start trying to update at least once a week as long as I don't suddenly develop a case of writer's block (it's possible).


	6. A Private Sorting

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!

Chapter 6: A Private Sorting

The last few weeks at Grimmauld Place were probably the happiest Harry had seen all summer. Now that he knew that Lyra didn't hate him or blame him for Sirius's death, he got along with her much easier. Despite actually enjoying his stay, he couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts and start Quidditch again. He wasn't the only one either. He had spotted Hermione rereading _Hogwarts, A History_ on more than one occasion for the past week. Many of the house's other occupants were quite bored as the days leading up to September first grew closer.

During their last week, Lyra and the Twins had engaged in a prank war. It would have been rather funny if others hadn't been caught in the crossfire. Harry could remember one unforgettable afternoon when Tonks ate a Canary Cream and burst into feathers. Even Dumbledore wasn't safe from their pranks. He walked into the kitchen after an Order meeting and opened a box of Animal Crackers, only to have colorful animal firecrackers fly out as people tried to get out of their way. Lyra tried to apologize to all the people with singed robes without laughing but she couldn't quite manage it. The war was soon brought to an abrupt end, however, when Mrs. Weasley drank one of the twin's newest inventions, Butterbeard, and found a brightly colored, red beard on her face. Harry could appreciate that had this happened to anyone else, it would have been funny, but on Mrs. Weasley it was just scary. She had yelled at Fred and George furiously for over an hour until the beard finally disappeared.

After that incident, Lyra, Fred, and George had all called a truce and she even began to help Fred and George with some of their new projects. By the end of the summer, they had extended the Skiving Snackboxes to include Coughing Candy and developed a portable snowstorm. Harry couldn't help but wonder how many of their new creations would show up this year at Hogwarts.

On their last day at Grimmauld Place, the doorbell rang rather unexpectedly during the afternoon. Harry, Ron, and Hermione couldn't see who it was from the top of the stairway, but they heard Mrs. Weasley address the visitor.

"Minerva, what are you doing here?" Mrs. Weasley asked surprised.

"Albus thought it would be best if Miss Black was sorted privately rather than in front of the whole school. It would attract less attention than having a sixth year being sorted with the first years. " Professor McGonagall stated.

"I think Lyra is upstairs," Remus said, "Shall I go and get her?"

"Yes," Harry heard his Transfiguration professor say, "You might as well bring the others down too."

When they heard that they tried to scramble away from the stairs as fast as they could, but obviously it wasn't fast enough. Remus came into view before they could get away and he gave them an amused look.

"Would one of you mind getting Lyra?" He asked, still smiling.

"Sure," Hermione said feebly as she ran off to go get Lyra.

Harry and Ron, however, followed Remus down the stairs and into the entryway where the others were waiting. Professor McGonagall looked up when she saw them enter with Remus.

"Well, that was certainly fast," she stated, though Harry could hear a note of suspicion in her voice.

Luckily, he was saved from making a response when Hermione came back down the stairs with Lyra, Ginny, Fred, and George. Once they were all grouped together, Professor McGonagall beckoned them to follow as she made her way into the kitchen.

"Well Miss Black," Professor McGonagall said as she conjured a stool from thin air, "you are going to be sorted into your house today. Has anyone told you what the four houses are?"

"No," Lyra answered as she looked curiously at the hat.

"They are Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin. Each House has its own noble history and skills that set them apart from each other. You can earn points for your house or-" she paused and looked rather pointedly at Lyra, "-you can loose points for misbehavior."

Lyra gave Professor McGonagall an innocent look but nodded her head all the same.

"The Headmaster also wants you to change your last name so it is not so obvious that Sirius Black is your father."

"How about Summers, that's my godmother's last name." Lyra suggested after some thought.

"That will work," Professor McGonagall said, then she gestured to the hat on the stool, "Well then, let's begin the sorting."

Lyra eyed the frayed hat unenthusiastically before she sat on the stool and put it on her head. Harry couldn't hear what the sorting hat was telling her, but it seemed to have a hard time deciding where to sort her. From the look on Lyra's face, he could tell that she didn't like the hat's voice in her head. The whole group watched her anxiously for nearly five minutes before the sorting hat finally yelled out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Everyone in the room, except for the professor, cheered rather loudly, given that everyone was or had been in Gryffindor at some point in their lives. Professor McGonagall did give Lyra a slight smile that was, in Harry's opinion, the equivalent of cheering for her. Lyra then took off the hat and handed it back to the Transfiguration teacher and wandered back to the group.

"I must be getting back to Hogwarts now that this is taken care of," Professor McGonagall said, "I shall inform the Headmaster that you are in Gryffindor and make preparations for tomorrow."

She then vanished the stool and made to leave the room, but she suddenly stopped at the doorway and turned around.

"Your father would have been proud of you," she said with a very slight quaver in her voice, hardly recognizable. With that said she left.

While Remus hugged Lyra, Harry thought about what Professor McGonagall had said. _Your father would have been proud of you_. She had said those very same words to him when he had made the Quidditich team his first year at Hogwarts. Somehow, he knew, with a slight pang of sorrow, that Sirius would have been thrilled to know that his daughter was sorted into Gryffindor.

"Come on, Harry!" Hermione said, shaking him out of his musings, "Mrs. Weasley wants us all packed and ready so we're not late like last year."

"Right," Harry said as he began to follow her out of the kitchen.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So what took the hat so long to sort you?" Ron asked, as he looked up from his game of Exploding Snap.

Now that everyone was packed, Harry and the others, including Bill, were sitting around the small table in the living room playing a round of Exploding Snap, with the exception of Lyra, who was sitting on the couch reading a book entitled _Advanced Potions_; Ron had been inclined to make fun of her for reading it.

Lyra looked up from her book and answered, "The hat considered putting me in Slytherin instead of Gryffindor."

All of the others looked at her in disbelief so she continued, "it's not that surprising, my mum was in Slytherin and my uncle happens to be Head of the house."

Harry thought back to his own sorting experience, when the sorting hat told him that he would have done well in Slytherin. He had never shared that information with anyone other than the Headmaster.

"Besides, it's not like there's anything wrong with being in Slytherin," She continued, failing to see the incredulous looks she was given or pretending not to notice.

"How 'bout the fact that every evil witch or wizard was in Slytherin," Ron said.

"My mum was in Slytherin and she wasn't evil," Lyra reminded him stubbornly.

Ron looked like he was going to comment on this, but he was interrupted when Sturgis Podmore burst into the room, his hair and robes were a disheveled mess. His eyes darted around the room until they came to rest on Bill.

"We have to go to Azkaban!" he said frantically as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came into the room to investigate the source of the noise, "Death Eaters are attacking the prison! A few Aurors are there, and Remus and Emmeline but they're outnumbered. They need help!"

"Right," Mr. Weasley said as he reached into his robe pocket and took out his wand, "I'll come with you."

"Me too," Bill announced, standing up and abandoning his game of Exploding Snap.

"George and I will help—" Fred began, but his mum cut him off.

"No!" she said sternly, "I need you and your brother to stay and watch everyone in the house."

The twins looked like they were going to protest but suddenly Ginny stood up and wrapped Bill in a hug, "Be careful," she said.

"Don't worry, I will" Bill said as he hugged her back. Then without saying another word, they apparated out of Grimmauld Place, leaving Harry and the others in the room alone.

Fred and George sat down on the couch by Lyra; Harry could tell that they were in an extremely bad mood.

"They can't keep leaving us out of these things," Fred fumed furiously.

"Still, it would have been nice to know what's going on," George joined in, just as angry.

"I'm more worried about Remus to tell you the truth," Lyra said softly, "I hope he'll be okay."

"Don't worry," Ginny assured them, "we can watch them and make sure they're all right."

"And how do you propose we do that," George questioned her, watching suspiciously when he saw her face split into a grin.

"'Cause I put a Spyder on Bill when I hugged him," Ginny said as everyone gaped openly at her.

"Ginny, how un-prefect-like of you, " Fred said good-humoredly, looking at her with admiration, "I'll go upstairs and get the sunglasses."

It didn't take long for Fred and George to disapparate and apparate back down to the room where Harry and the others were waiting impatiently. When they came back their arms were full of sunglasses, and without hesitation, they handed them back out to everyone in the room. For the second time since coming to Grimmauld Place, Harry put the sunglasses over his regular glasses and waited for the image to appear. When the image finally focused, he could see the dark island of Azkaban. He could hear the sea pounding harshly on the rocks below. The removal of the dementors did little to erase the dark shadow that surrounded the prison…or would have surrounded the prison. The walls were reduced to rubble and bricks were scattered about in every direction.

Harry could spot a crowd of witches and wizards gathered around one of the rubble heaps. Though it was too dark to properly see who every one was, he thought he could recognize a few of the people in the group, including Bill, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"…they've all been freed," Moody said gruffly, "Every single Death Eater in Azkaban escaped."

"Is everyone alright?" Mrs. Weasley asked concerned, as she looked around to see who was all there.

"No one was killed, but several people were injured," Remus said as he walked towards them; Harry noticed, with some anxiety, that he was limping slightly, "We've managed to capture some of the Death Eaters."

"It could have been worse," Mr. Weasley said finally.

"Trust me, it's worse," Moody promised him, "You-Know-Who had two purposes for attacking Azkaban. The first was, of course, to free his followers. The second was to train his newly recruited Death Eaters. In my opinion, he's accomplished both of those goals rather well."

"My question is how he's managed to gain so many followers so quickly?" Remus said.

"It probably wasn't too difficult," Moody said dismissively, "I mean, he's had a whole year to gain them and properly train them secretly-."

The crunch of gravel had just turned the group's attention to a new bunch of people that were walking toward them. It wasn't until the newcomers had come into the range of the Sypder's camera that could Harry identify them. Shacklebolt and Tonks were among them, carrying one of the captured Death Eaters on either side of them. The Death Eater in question was still masked, there was no possible way that Harry could tell who it was, at least not until Moody walked over and lifted the mask off his face.

Harry could only gape in shock when he saw the face beneath the mask. It was none other than the former Slytherin Quidditch captain, Marcus Flint. He looked much different than Harry remembered, he still looked like a gorilla, but his whole aura seemed much deadlier than before, when he was only trying to knock a Gryffindor off a broom. Apparently in the year that he left Hogwarts, he joined Voldemort.

"What should we do with him now that Azkaban has been damaged beyond repair?" Mr. Weasly asked, eying Flint warily.

"We'll have to take him to the Ministry," Kingsley Shacklebolt concluded, "At least there You-Know-Who shouldn't be able to attack for a while."

Shacklebolt started to reach for a broken bottle, Harry could only assume that it was a portkey, when Flint's voice stopped him.

"You just wait," Flint laughed, with a kind of mad glint in his eyes that Harry had only seen on two other people: Barty Crouch and Bellatrix Lestrange, "You think that the Blood Traitor's daughter will be safe at Hogwarts!? The Dark Lord will find her, and when he does, he'll be immortal. No one will stand in his way when he rids the world of the Muggles and Mudblood lovers! He'll attack the Ministry and free me-"

Harry would have liked to keep the Spyder glasses on and listen to the rest of the conversation, but the abrupt footsteps and the slam of the living room's door brought him back to his senses. He quickly took off the glasses and hid them behind his back as he searched the room for the new arriver. There wasn't anyone new in the room, though. Funny, he could have sworn that he heard someone enter…

When he took a better look around the room, however, he realized that no one had come in, someone had left. Lyra was missing. Harry, along with everyone else in the room, got off the floor quickly and made to follow her wherever it was that she went.

Harry could hear her footsteps traveling upstairs so assumed that she was going to her room. When he was about to open the door and go into her room, but when he reached for the handle, he practically almost ran into her as she was leaving. She looked really pale and she was shaking slightly. Harry didn't really notice this, though, because he was more focused on the suitcase in her hands.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked uneasily.

"I'm leaving," Lyra announced adamantly, "I'm going back to France…somewhere—anywhere, as long as he can't find me!"

She looked like she was going to have a full fled panic attack, but she dropped her suitcase all the same and sat down on her bed. Harry caught Ron's eye; they both had no idea how to handle this situation. Luckily for them, Hermione did.

"It's going to be okay," Hermione said in a persuasive voice.

"Yeah. Don't worry," Fred assured her in an uncharacteristically somber voice as he sat beside her, "They always said that the only wizard You-Know-Who ever feared was Dumbledore. As long as you're under Dumbledore's protection he can't get to you."

"Yeah. Right," Lyra agreed halfheartedly, as Fred wrapped his arm around her, though, Harry could tell that she only half believed his words.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Chapter six is up to celebrate the fact that I just gave my last speech in my public speaking class (I hate speaking in public)!! Next chappie, they finally leave for Hogwarts! I'm not going to post it till I can get 10 reviews. Please read and review!


	7. A Welcome to Hogwarts

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!

A/N: I am so sorry that this chapter took so long. This semester has been keeping me very busy, but hopefully I can get another chapter out much sooner. My email is not working so I couldn't send this chapter to a beta reader. There may be a few grammar mistakes in this chapter, but I figured I may as well post it because you all have been waiting long enough.

Lastly, a big thanks to Schnebz, Old-crow, Shining Storm, and Aira for reviewing.

Carpathia: Snape was at Hogwarts when the Death Eaters attacked Azkaban. He couldn't be there to help the Order because if a Death Eater recognized him Snape would have been in trouble. As for Voldemort…well, he had his own reasons for Snape not being there.

Bellachaos: It is a bit convenient that Sirius has a daughter that is Harry's age, but that's what fit into the storyline.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7: Welcome to Hogwarts!

The morning of September first was not off to a good start. It was a grey, dreary morning and, while it hadn't rained yet, dark clouds in the sky said otherwise. Even worse than the weather, however, was Mrs. Weasley.

Everyone was tired after being up most of the night, but none more so than her. She had taken to snapping at Lyra for falling asleep again instead of eating breakfast and yelling at everyone when they weren't immediately ready to leave for the station. Finally after several hectic minutes, however, the group was ready to go.

While everyone was in the hallway waiting for Moody to appear, they heard a loud squawk coming from the other end of the house. After a few moments, Bill appeared in the hallway, trying to drag Buckbeak with him.

"We're not riding Buckbeak to King's Cross, are we?" Ron asked hesitantly as he eyed the hippogriff.

"Don't be thick, Ron," Bill panted, pulling on the hippogriff's rope, "There's no way we could fit everyone on him. No, we're taking Buckbeak outside and setting him free."

"But why?" Ginny asked, watching as Bill continued to struggle to pull Buckbeak out of the room.

"Sirius isn't…" Remus began but corrected himself when he saw the look on Lyra's face, "No one is going to be here to take care of Buckbeak on a daily basis."

"And we can't give the hippogriff back to Hagrid," Tonks said when she saw Ginny start to open her mouth to protest, "the Ministry is still technically looking for Buckbeak."

They all hurried over to pet Buckbeak goodbye while Bill rested after finally leading Buckbeak out to the entryway. They all petted the hippogriff hesitantly, though Buckbeak wouldn't let Lyra pet him at all. Harry was sorry to see Buckbeak go; the hippogriff had been in the house for a long while, and it didn't seem to want to go. When everyone had finished saying goodbye, Bill resumed his struggle to get the stubborn hippogriff out the door.

"Wait a moment, Bill," Moody said as he finally walked into the room and over to Buckbeak, "We need to Disillusion him before you can take him outside, otherwise, the Muggles might see."

"Good point," Bill conceded as he let go of the ropes for a second time and stepped aside as Moody applied the Disillusionment Charm.

With a tap of his wand, Moody had changed Buckbeak's grey coat of feathers to match its surroundings. Buckbeak, however, didn't seem to notice that the Charm had been applied and just dug his claws further into the wooden floor. Bill sighed in defeat and pulled at the rope again, this time, with the help of Kingsley Shacklebolt, they managed to drag Buckbeak outside while Harry and everyone else followed, carrying their luggage out behind them.

"So, take him to the Black Forest then?" Bill asked Moody in between breaths.

"Yeah," Moody agreed, "he should be safe enough there. And it's far enough away that he can't follow you back."

"But aren't there a lot of dangerous things in the Black Forest?" Hermione said with some concern, "I mean, it's supposed to be even more dangerous than the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts.

"You're right, Hermione," Remus said, "but those things aren't harmful to Buckbeak. He should be perfectly safe there."

Hermione only looked like she partially believed him, but she didn't press the point. Instead, they all watched as Bill mounted Buckbeak and, after a few moments of convincing Buckbeak to do so, took off and flew into the sky. Harry continued to watch them leave until the dark clouds covered them from view.

"We should get going," Mrs. Weasley finally said as she dragged everyone's attention away from the sky, "We've got a good twenty minute walk ahead of us. I really wish Arthur could have gotten us some Ministry cars!"

By the time Harry arrived at King's Cross Station, he wished very much that they had been able to get Ministry cars as well. It was a long journey to the station, and it didn't help matters that he had to carry his luggage with him. He was tempted on more than one occasion to ask someone to put a Levitating Charm on his stuff so they would be easier to carry, but it would be hard to explain to a passing Muggle why his suitcase was floating. Harry passed the time to the station by listening to Fred and George tell Lyra all the pranks they pulled when Umbridge took over as a temporary headmistress. He could hear Lyra laugh when they reached the part where they set a portable swamp on the fifth floor of the east wing. A little ahead of him, however, he was almost certain he heard Mrs. Weasley sniff in disapproval.

When they finally reached the barrier between platforms nine and ten, they all took turns leaning casually onto the barrier. It took some time to convince Lyra that she was supposed to walk through it, but eventually they fell out onto platform nine and three quarters. Harry followed as Moody led them through the crowd of other families saying goodbye to their children until they came to a somewhat isolated patch near the train. As they waited for the others to join them, Harry took the opportunity to look around and see if he could spot anyone he knew. He could see several people he recognized, including Dean Thomas, who looked as though he was trying to catch Ginny's eye.

As Harry let his gaze wander, however, he noticed that someone was watching him. When he looked to the other side of the station, he noticed that Mrs. Malfoy was staring over in his direction, her eyes narrowed with derision. He was pretty sure that she was glaring at him because he had put her husband in Azkaban.

"Be careful, all of you!" Moody said, interrupting Harry's thoughts, "and don't forget what I've said before: constant vigilance!"

They all nodded at Moody's advice, and then Mrs. Weasley took turns hugging each of them.

"Behave," Remus said to Lyra, as he looked her pointedly in the eyes, "I really don't want to get an owl from McGonagall saying that you've terrorized the entire school."

Harry saw Lyra give Remus a look that clearly said, '_that's rich coming from you'_, but she chose not to comment and instead pulled him into a hug. When she pulled away she went over to where Fred and George were standing to say goodbye to them as well.

"Take care of yourself, Harry," Remus said as he clapped Harry on the shoulder, "Don't forget to go to Dumbledore if you still are having those dreams."

Harry nodded, though, he knew if he had any more dreams about Sirius or the veil he was definitely not going to Dumbledore. He felt like he should say something, but the red train gave a piercing whistle and he knew it was time to go.

"Don't forget to send us the recipe when you think you've got it," Harry heard Fred remind Lyra as she started towards the train.

She gave a wave to acknowledge that she heard him, then stepped onboard the train and out of sight, with Hermione right behind her. When they had all gotten on the train, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all went towards the direction of the prefect's carriage, leaving Harry and Lyra alone. He couldn't find any empty compartments on the first five carriages, but finally on the sixth one he was able to find a compartment at the back of the carriage that was empty.

When they had stowed away their luggage, they both sat down and Lyra took out her copy of _Advanced Potions_ and began to read. As the silence grew, Harry felt he should say something so his mind cast around for a topic; he didn't really know much about her.

"Er—do you play Quidditch at all," he asked, as Lyra looked up from her book and smiled.

"I'm a decent flyer, but I've never been really good at the game. Quidditch is fun to watch, though," she answered, "You play, don't you?"

"Yeah," Harry said, "I'm Seeker for the team."

They lapsed into silence once more and Lyra returned to her book. He was trying to think of something else to say when the compartment door opened. Neville Longbottom stuck his head in the door and looked briefly around the room.

"Can I sit in here with you?" he asked hesitantly, "Everywhere else is full."

"Sure," Harry said.

Neville went in and, as he sat down, he seemed to just realize that Lyra was in the compartment as well.

"I haven't seen you at Hogwarts before, have I?" He asked her, looking at her strangely.

"No," Lyra assured him as she flipped a page in her book, "I just transferred here from Beauxbatons. I'm Lyra Summers"

"Neville Longbotton," he said simply, then when he spotted what she was reading asked, "So, do you like Potions?"

"Yeah, it was my favorite class at school," She said.

"You like it now," Harry corrected her, "Just wait till you have a Potions lesson with Snape."

"I don't have him this year," Neville said happily.

"You're lucky," Harry said. After giving it some thought over the weeks, he sometimes still regretted signing up for Potions.

"So the professor's a real git then?" Lyra asked with a slight smile on her face.

"Who's a git?" Ron asked as he opened the compartment door, followed by Hermione and, to Harry's surprise, Luna Lovegood. She had a copy of _The Quibbler_ in her hand and a prefect's badge pinned to her robes.

"Snape," Harry said simply, pretending not to notice the scowl on Hermione's face.

Luckily, Harry was saved from a telling off when the food trolley arrived, and he got up to get the food. In a few short minutes, he returned with his arms full of Pumpkin Pasties and Chocolate Frogs. Lyra picked up the food and looked at it curiously, then shrugged and ate it.

"I don't remember you at Hogwarts," Luna suddenly said as she looked at Lyra curiously.

"I'm Lyra Bl—Summers," Lyra said, correcting herself, and then quickly added, "I just transferred from Beauxbatons."

"I'm Luna Lovegood," She said, apparently not aware of Lyra's slip-up, "You know, you really don't sound all that French."

"I'm English born, but I moved to France when I was six," Lyra clarified.

Harry noticed that Luna continued to stare at Lyra for a few moments longer than she suddenly turned to him.

"So, did you like the book I sent you over the summer, Harry?" she asked as she ate her Pumpkin Pasties with a Chocolate Frog on top.

"Er—yeah, it was great," Harry lied. Truthfully, he could barely remember anything that he read in the book.

"What was your favorite part?" she questioned him eagerly.

"Er…" he said as he tried to remember what he read, "the Elementals."

"I didn't think Elementals actually existed," Lyra commented, looking at Harry rather weirdly.

"That's because they don't!" Hermione stated resolutely.

"Of course they do!" Luna stated fanatically, "Many people have spotted them on any number of occasions. It's all written in _The Quibbler_ if you don't believe me, Hermione!"

Hermione took a deep breath and instead of commenting, took out a copy of _The Daily Prophet_. Harry watched her eyes narrow as she read the article, her eyes were moving back and forth from the page rather quickly.

"Look at this," she said as she laid the paper flat for everyone to read. Everyone crowded around the _Prophet_, with the exception of Luna, who took resumed reading _The Quibbler_ instead.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AZKABAN DESTROYED 

**THE SECOND WAR BEGINS**

The Ministry of Magic confirmed just last night that Azkaban has indeed been destroyed. According to an Auror who was at the battle scene, all of the prisoners, including the twelve Death Eaters captured almost three months ago have escaped. Luckily, nobody was killed in the brief battle, though several were wounded and have since been taken to St. Mungo's Hospital for recovery.

Minister Fudge was not available for questioning regarding the breakout, but according to the Junior Assistant to the Minister, Percy Weasley, he is 'extremely busy' trying to correct the Azkaban breakout.

"You-Know-Who's return was a surprise to all of us," the Junior Assistant insisted, "The Minister is working hard to make sure that You-Know-Who does not gain the kind of power he had over fifteen years ago."

Whether or not the efforts are working remains to be seen. Many witches and wizards fear that the Ministry's efforts are far too late now to make any difference. Several in the Wizarding community feel that it is time for Fudge to step down as Minister of Magic all together.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"They're really not happy with Fudge anymore, are they?" Hermione said as everyone finished reading the article.

"Maybe Fudge will step down and they can elect somebody a little more competent," Luna said from across the _Quibbler_.

"Is Percy Weasley related to you?" Lyra asked Ron curiously.

"Yeah, he _was_ my brother," Ron said bitterly.

Lyra obviously heard the tone in Ron's voice because she didn't comment any further, and instead, turned to look out the window.

Harry assumed that Percy still wasn't talking to his family because none of the Weasleys had mentioned him over the summer. He suspected that Percy's continued estrangement from his family was now due to more of a wounded ego than anything else.

"We'd better change, I think we're almost at Hogwarts," Hermione said finally when no one else spoke.

After several more minutes, the train finally came to a halt at Hogsmeade Station. Harry could hear several of the other people in neighboring compartments grabbing their luggage and pets in a hurry to get off the train; Ron, Hermione, and Luna all left so they could supervise. When he had collected his own trunk and Hedwig's cage, he stepped off the train and onto the platform, only to be greeted by rain and thunder.

Harry stood there for a few seconds, waiting for Lyra to get off the train as well, then both of them made their way to the carriages. He looked sideways at Lyra and noticed that the rain wasn't bothering her one bit; in fact, she looked as though she were enjoying the storm.

"Firs' years this way!" Harry heard a very familiar voice say.

Harry turned around to see Hagrid holding a lantern and beckoning the new group of first years to the boats. None of them looked too enthused to be riding to Hogwarts by boat in the storm.

"Who's that?" Lyra asked as she noticed where Harry was looking.

"That's Hagrid," Harry said as he readjusted Hedwig's cage in his arms, "He's the Groundskeeper at Hogwarts and Care of Magical Creatures professor as well."

Lyra looked back at Hagrid and giggled, "He's also Madame Maxime's boyfriend, isn't he?"

Harry had to smile at that. He and Lyra continued to push through the crowd until they saw Ron and Hermione standing by a carriage, waiting for them. When they had all settled in, the thestrals began to push the coaches along the flooded road towards Hogwarts. It wasn't long before Hogwarts came into view.

The coaches came to a stop, but the rain still continued. As all of the students exited their coaches, they practically dashed to get into the castle. As Harry got out of the coach, he noticed that Lyra was staring at the castle for a few moments until she realized that she was getting soaked. They all walked towards Hogwarts, but before Harry even reached the doors a gloating voice halted him in his tracks.

"I told you my father would be out of Azkaban, Potter!"

Harry turned to see Draco Malfoy approaching with Crabbe and Goyle on either side of him. Malfoy stopped a few feet away from Harry; his pale, pointed face was contorted into a sneer.

"Shove off, Malfoy!" Harry said angrily. He was not in the mood to deal with Malfoy now. Malfoy, however, showed no signs of leaving and instead turned his attention to Ron, Hermione, and Lyra, who were behind Harry.

"I see you have new member in your fan club, Potter," Draco said as his eyes came to rest on Lyra, and he sneered at her. "Let me guess, another pathetic Mudblood like Granger!"

As soon as the words were out of Malfoy's mouth, both the Slytherins and Gryffindors reached for their wands. Before a single spell could be uttered, however, someone else's voice cut in.

"Is there a problem here?" Harry heard a stern, harsh voice say from behind him.

As he turned around, he saw a tall, stern looking, brown haired witch glaring at all of them as she approached them. Her severe eyes narrowed as she saw the wands in their hands and said, "Ten points from Slytherin and Gryffindor, and if you lot don't put your wands away this instant, I will make it fifty points!"

She continued to watch until they all returned their wands to their pockets, though Malfoy did rather reluctantly. After she saw that all the wands were away, she gave them a slight nod and spun around and headed back towards the steps.

"You got lucky, Potter!" Malfoy said as he, Crabbe, and Goyle rushed past them and went into the door that led to the hall.

"Are all the students at Hogwarts this friendly?" Lyra asked sardonically as they watched Malfoy disappear into the castle.

"That's Malfoy," Ron said as they made their way to the doors, "He thinks that he's better than everyone else 'cause he comes from a pureblood family. _Slytherin_."

"I didn't say that Slytherins were the nicest people that I had ever met," Lyra said as she glared at Ron, "I just said that there are bound to be some descent ones."

"When you meet them let me know," Ron said.

"So who do you think the new professor was?" Harry asked before Lyra could open her mouth to fire a retort.

"I imagine she's the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Hermione said, " We haven't had one that's lasted for more than a year."

"She seems a bit strict to me," Ron said as they opened the door and stepped into the hall, "I mean, she just took all those points from Gryffindor and the term hasn't even started!"

"She took points from Slytherin too," Hermione pointed out as she took out her wand and pointed it at herself. Her clothes steamed for a few seconds then became dry.

"Yeah, but they started it," Ron protested, drying himself off as well, "he called her a you-know-what."

"Better he thinks my parents are Muggles rather than tell _his_ parents who I really am," Lyra sighed as she pocketed her wand and followed the crowd of students into the Great Hall.

Once Harry entered, he looked up at the enchanted ceiling, which was as dark and cloudy as the weather outside.

"Think of all those poor first years that have to cross the lake," Hermione said, "I can't imagine that they'll be dry when they come in."

"Maybe they'll drown," Ron said, sounding very hopeful and ignoring Hermione's disbelief, "then we won't have to sit through the sorting."

Hermione rolled her eyes as she sat down at the Gryffindor table next to Ron. While Ron and Hermione bickered, Harry let his gaze wander to the staff table. He saw Dumbledore seated at the head of the table talking with the stern, brown haired witch that had scolded them outside. As Harry worked his way down the table, he saw another professor that he didn't recognize. This time, the professor was a pallid, balding man with thick glasses that could have once belonged to Trelawney. A little further down the table, Snape was sitting, glaring at the Gryffindor table. His scowl was, as usual, directed at Harry. Apparently, Snape decided to ignore Lyra, who was sitting next to him reading her book.

Before Harry could give it much thought, however, the chatter in the hall died down as McGonagall came in with a line of first years following right behind her, gazing around the hall with a mixture of bewilderment and trepidation.

"So, what happens now?" Lyra whispered, making him jump slightly in his seat. Before he could answer her, the hat began to sing:

_I was created by the Founders_

_Many years ago._

_That was before they were parted,_

_Before they became foe._

_They were all united at one time,_

_Once proud and strong._

_Looking back now,_

_It is no wonder things went wrong:_

_Salazar was Head of the Slytherins._

_He took the cunning and sly._

_Their only friend is trickery,_

_That is how they get by._

_Rowena was Head of the Ravenclaws._

_She took the intelligent and wise._

_Most are bordering on arrogance._

_Brilliance is the only thing they prize._

_Helga was Head of the Hufflepuffs._

_She took the loyal and meek._

_To the other Houses, they appear_

_Nothing but weak._

_Godric was Head of the Gryffindors._

_He took the daring and brave._

_These brash qualities can_

_Send them to an early grave._

_Even though I am made to sort you_

_Into whichever House you belong,_

_I must admit that I find _

_The whole process is rather wrong._

_To keep the Houses divided_

_Would be a terrible mistake._

_You all do not seem to realize_

_That so much is at stake._

_This song is no mere warning._

_I must ask that you be friends,_

_To see that what was started long ago_

_By the Founders does not end._

_Do not discard what I say._

_I must ask that you try._

_If not, the outcome will be much worse_

_You're fate will be to die!_

For possibly the first time in the history of Hogwarts, the sorting hat received no applause after the song had ended. The entire hall had become as still as the sorting hat now was on the stool.

"Well, I think we should get along with the sorting," Dumbledore said after a full minute of silence.

If the first years were nervous to try on the hat in the beginning, now they refused to go anywhere near it.

"I don't think I'd be to enthusiastic to try on that hat either," Lyra commented as they watched Professor McGonagall try to convince one of the first years to put the hat on.

"It sang this kind of song last year," Hermione said, watching the hat with interest.

"Yeah," Ron said, "but it didn't threaten us with death,"

Harry didn't say anything, but he watched as the first years finally began to be sorted. As a result, the sorting ceremony took much longer than anyone could have expected, much to Ron and Harry's dismay. When it was finally over, however, Dumbledore stood up and addressed the entire Great Hall.

"Welcome back to another year of Hogwarts! I could stand up here all evening talking," Dumbledore said smiling as he saw most of the students fidgeting at the remark, "but such things are best kept for after dinner. Tuck In!"

Harry and Ron didn't need any more encouragement as they started to make a grab for the food that suddenly appeared on the dishes in front of them. Harry ate mostly in silence, listening to Hermione as she quoted everything in _Hogwarts, A History_ to Lyra. Once everyone had finished eating, the hall started to buzz with conversation again, and Dumbledore stood up once more to address the students.

"Now that everyone is full, I have a few quick announcements before we all go to bed. First, all of you should know that the forest on these grounds is absolutely forbidden to students of any age. A few of our older students need to be reminded as well," He said, his eyes lingering on Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has also asked me to remind you that magic is not permitted in corridors between classes. He has also extended the list of banned items to include Weasley's Wildfire Whiz-Bangs and Portable Swamps. The fairly sizeable list is still posted on Mr. Filch's office, I believe, if any of you wish to look."

"I am also pleased to introduce two new teachers to our school. The first is Professor Elweird who is our new Muggle Studies professor." Dumbledore said as he gestured to the willowy professor with the thick glasses, " as well as Professor Addley who has consented to fill the role of our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher,"

Harry and the other students clapped rather unenthusiastically as Dumbledore announced their new professors; clearly, they all still remembered Umbridge. Both professors looked rather apathetic to their lack of applause, however.

As soon as Dumbledore finished his announcements, all of the students stood up and filed out of the Hall. Since the fifth year prefects were the ones to escort the first years to the dormitories, Ron and Hermione were able to walk with Lyra and him back to the Gryffindor common room. As they made their way to the dormitory, Harry only half listened as Hermione began to tell Lyra about the changing staircases. He was more concerned about what the sorting hat had said about Gryffindors. The line "_These brash qualities can send them to an early grave"_ kept being repeated in his head. Would it send him to an early grave as well?

Harry was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't realize that they had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady until Ron mumbled, "Gillyweed."

As soon as the portrait flew open, they walked into the common room and made their way toward the staircases. Hermione and Lyra bade Ron and Harry goodnight as they went up to the girls' dormitories. When Harry entered his own room, he got ready for bed and fell asleep as soon as his head hit his pillow.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When he woke up, he realized that he wasn't at Hogwarts anymore. He was standing in a dark and dusty room that he didn't recognize. He was looking out of the window towards the quiet forest outside, his white fingers resting on the windowsill. Harry finally turned away from the window when he realized that the door to the room had just opened.

Rookwood walked into the room with an apprehensive look on his face. Harry had a feeling that he—no, Voldemort! —wasn't going to like the news he was about to receive.

"Well, what is it?" Voldemort finally asked coldly as Rookwood kneeled before him.

"We found the house in France, my lord, but nobody was living there," Rookwood said with a trace of fear in his voice.

"I should have known that Dumbledore would have found out about the girl as well," Voldemort sighed, then his gaze hardened, "I told Avery that he shouldn't have delayed in fetching her."

"I can send some of the Death Eaters to track down the girl and her godmother," Rookwood suggested hesitantly.

"There's no point," Voldemort said coldly," that Muggle loving fool has probably already taken the girl to Hogwarts," he stopped speaking for a moment then smiled callously, "It's no matter, though, because I foresaw this possibility and took the necessary precautions."

"My lord?" Rookwood asked, sounding more than a little confused.

"You will learn eventually but now is not the time," Voldemort said dismissively as Rookwood got up to leave the room.

He made it to the doorway before Voldemort called him back, "Rookwood, Avery has failed me one too many times. Kill him."

As Rookwood left, Voldemort narrowed his eyes, as if he just realized something was wrong. Suddenly, Harry felt himself being propelled out of his own bed with a jolt as he abruptly awoke to discover that he was still at Hogwarts.


End file.
